
Book QM-^ 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSn^ 



The 

Threshold of the 
Kingdom 






W 



Nineteen Hundred and Seven 

United Brethren Publishing House 

Dayton, Ohio 






UAHARYefeONBRtSS 
Iwo GwMk RMelVM 

SEP 4 190/ 

CooyneM Mry 

COPY B. 



CIMS 



Copyright, 1907, by 
Charles Nicholas Queen 



^Whatsoever things are true, 
Whatsoever things are honest. 
Whatsoever things are just. 
Whatsoever things are pure. 
Whatsoever things are lovely, 
Whatsoever things are of good report; 
If there he any virtue, and 
If there he any praise. 
Think on these things. 

Those things. 
Which ye have hoth learned. 
And received, and heard, and seen in me. 

Bo: 
And the Ood of peace shall he with you." 

—Phil. 4: 8, 9. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

The Prelude ^ 

Think 7 

Whatsoever Things 15 

Are True 2^ 

Are Honest 36; 

Are Just 45- 

Are Pure 5& 

Are Lovely 65 

Are of Good Report 72 

If There be Any Virtue 80 

If There be Any Praise 87 

Think and Do 94 

And the God of Peace Shall be With You. . 102 



THE PRELUDE 

I count myself fortunate in being privileged to 
join in the instruction of the youth of the land. 
Ministers of the gospel and teachers in the schools 
are highly privileged classes, for a large invest- 
ment of their energies is in adolescence. No gold 
mine yields returns comparable with the invest- 
ment ^one who teaches makes in youth. The 
faithful teacher and minister are more than multi- 
millionaires, and I am glad by the grace of God I 
have been allowed a share in this wealth-producing 
process. 

Of the millions of young men and the millions 
of young women coming to their majority each 
year, only a small per cent, are more than nominal 
Christians. However, most of these know some- 
thing of the Christian system, and their lives have 
been influenced by that knowledge. It is impos- 
sible for one man to gain the ears of this multi- 
tude; but one may gain the attention of some, and 
make a contribution which will bear fruit in the 
eternities of the future. 

The children of to-day are the men of to-morrow, 
and they are expected to assume control of the 
government, of business, education, and religion. 
The retiring generation may serve in counsel, and 
the childhood of the nation may be very promis- 
ing, but the theater of action belongs to the 
strength of the race. In adolescence the frame- 
work of character is organized, and the moving 
principle of the next generation is incarnated. 

It has been demonstrated that the adolescent 
period is the time when religious awakenings are 
most general, and moral culture takes deepest 
root. Conversions occur in an irregular propor- 
tion until seventeen years, and then the decline 
is rapid to about twenty-five, after which but few 
persons "open the door of faith." 

Opportunity to help a young life attain spiritual 
values is short-lived. Whatever is done must be 
done at once. The childhood of the nation requires 



a positive faith in a positive religion, which, if 
obtained, will require to be taught by those who 
can say, "I know whom I have believed." 

A continual army of young people are arriving 
at the threshold of the kingdom. It is the hour 
for instruction. It is the best period for the intro- 
duction of Paul's program: 

"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, 
whatsoever things are of good report; if there be 
any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these 
things." 

With those who are at this critical period and 
opportune time I wish to hold counsel, and I do 
it with a belief that I may help some. Perhaps 
the number may be limited, yet I remember that 
one young person helped in establishing himself 
in spiritual truths is like constructing a multipli- 
cation table. 

Exhaustive argument will not be dealt in. No 
one can think everything out for another. It 
would not be a wise service if he could. Each one 
must think for himself. Some questions must be 
thought through from the beginning before safe 
conclusions are arrived at. One of the questions 
to which young people should studiously address 
themselves is the problem of life's purpose. A 
clear vision of life will help any one; without it 
the soul gropes. He is like a vessel on the high 
seas without chart and compass — the port is for- 
ever a problem. 

Draw near: perchance a suggestion may be 
made; a seed-thought may fall into good ground; 
or together we may rediscover some starlit realm 
and acquaint ourselves with a section of life and 
immortality. 

If somewhere down the line your life shows im- 
provement, your soul glows with unction, your 
character is adorned with "grace and truth," I will 
humbly bow myself before the Father, saying, 
"Even so; for thus it seemeth good in thy sight,, 
and the glory is thine," 



THINK 

Think! That is what the race has been 
doing for many thousand years. Look and see ! 
Count the ^'old sea margins of human thought/' 
The human mind is a book of progressive reve- 
lations; nor is it complete or full-grown. The 
race has scarcely gone beyond the primary 
grades of thought. Still progress is being 
made. Mind is developing. The thinker is 
growing. It has attained the ability to dis- 
cover truth. Thought springs forth and weds 
itself to thought, and thus, as Shelley has 
taught us, "thought by thought is piled, till 
some great truth is loosened." Few studies 
furnish more attractive chapters than the book 
of the evolution of mind. "Growing thought 
makes growing revelation." 

To return to the gray dawn of human 
thought and trace its evolution through the 
history of the race, with satisfactory results, 
requires the skill of the student and the time 
of the plodder. Therefore, for our present 
profit, let us take the race as we find it, and, 
opening the book of human thought at the last 
chapter, make some observavlons and — think ! 

Early in the study of this subject attention 
is called to the thought processes. Deep in- 



terest is awakened, and with some amazement 
we observe the debris of human thought that 
is 'Vithout form and void.'* Ever since our 
marriage we have had a certain mirror in the 
house into which wife and I have looked a 
great many times, but we have never been 
able to make any impression upon it. It will 
not retain our likeness a moment after we are 
gone. By it I am reminded that there are a 
great many people whose thinking disappears 
with the thinking. Nothing is retained. 

Many thoughts drop into the mind like 
meteors out of the sky, with this difference — ^you 
cannot tell whence they come. Who fathered 
them? Where were they cradled? Who car- 
ried that thought to the doorstep of your mind ? 
A beautiful thought it may have been and you 
cherished it until it became dear to you. Never 
cast a thought aside because you do not know 
its genealogy; sudden revelations are often the 
most valuable. 

If a thought bursts upon the mind unsought 
and seems "the revelation of a dream,'' perhaps 
it would be well to study introspectively. Some 
one has said, "Great thoughts come from the 
heart." One is far from error when he con- 
siders sudden and unsought thought as coming 
from the deep fountains of the soul — ^fountains 
he never discovered and may never be able to 
define with exactness. 

Much of our thinking comes by way of sug- 
gestion. The senses speak to the mind and the 
mind begins to work, producing thought. 

8 



Thought is as hard to force as sweet-potato 
plants. It may be done, but the mind is apt to 
sprout at too many points. That is a very 
unnatural method. Thoughts must come nat- 
urally. One may put himself in the hot-bed 
trying to bring forth great thoughts, only to 
give birth to weaklings. Nor can we always 
mold our thought to our liking. Frequently 
the production of the mind is very surprising. 

Think! Cultivate the habit of thinking. 
You can develop muscle. You can train the 
senses. So the thinker is trained in the think- 
ing. The efficiency of the mind is a matter of 
endowment plus cultivation. ISTature is im- 
proved upon by nurture; only be orderly in 
your methods. Do not strain the thinker, or 
overtax, or enslave. Listen to Paul, "Let all 
things be done decently and in order.'' 

"Among mortals second thoughts are wisest." 
Think and then think again. Write it down. 
Erase it. It might be well to keep from pen, 
paper, and ink. Sometimes pens of pigs are 
better than pens of ink. Thinking needs to be 
well done, like carrots before being placed on 
the table. On reading a book you can tell 
whether the author thought twice before com- 
mitting to writing. In conversation one soon 
reveals himself and publishes the fact of his 
thinking or lack of thinking. When speech is 
golden you know the thinker has not been 
trifled with; it has been nourished, trained, 
husbanded, pruned, guarded. 



Concentration is an art of rare merit. To 
fix the mind upon a given subject of thought 
and hold it there until legitimate conclusions 
are reached is not an easy accomplishment, but 
a worthy one; perhaps there is no intellectual 
attainment of equal value. This attainment is 
of the utmost importance to the boy or girl pur- 
suing studies. There is usually much noise of 
a distracting character, both at home and in 
the schoolroom, and the child that learns to 
perfect his lesson amid these disturbances gains 
a thousand leagues. The best way to fix the 
mind at a given point is to fix it there, and keep 
fixing it there, and insist on its staying there. 
Concentrate, focalize, center, think, and do it 
with a determined purpose. 

The thinker is a person of great and un- 
equaled power. He eliminates distances. He 
dissolves time. 

"Oh, the fetterless mind! how it wandereth free 
Through the wildering maze of eternity!" 

— Henry Smith. 

The velocity of light is estimated at 185,500 
miles per second, or more than eleven million 
miles per minute, and the thinker outdistances 
that. The velocity of electricity is estimated at 
288,000 miles per second, and the thinker with 
one quick step o'erleaps that. It is impossible 
to differentiate the time taken for human 
thought to reach the sun. Mind calculates the 
heavens and wanders among the constellations 
with greater freedom than you would pass the 
time in Golden Gate Park. The thinker is 

10 



not omnipresent, but at will is present where- 
soever he chooses. In imagery he creates ac- 
cording to his own fancy. Without a Gunter's 
chain he measures the universe far beyond the 
confines of aided vision. Thought is the magic 
of the mind. 

There are many kinds of thinking, much of 
which is neither pleasant nor profitable. Our 
thoughts are our companions. We are not* often 
left alone. The kind of company we keep 
depends upon the kind of thinking we are 
doing. Thinking noble thoughts is like enter- 
taining angels. What joy there is in a new- 
bom idea! I am fully persuaded that the 
pleasantest things in the world are pleasant 
thoughts. Thoughts, the children of the mind, 
prattling about the dooryard of the soul, sing- 
ing within the chamber-walls of the heart, visit- 
ing among the hosts of God, chasing up and 
down the golden ladders of eternity, minister- 
ing at the sacred altar within the holy of holies 
of the universe, mingling in the symphonies of 
all that is good and true and pure and holy and 
just and lovely, feasting at the table of philos- 
ophers, generals, artists, statesmen, kings, poets, 
crowned martyrs, and white-robed saints ! What 
a privilege! What a heritage! One never 
need be alone or feel lonesome when he has 
noble thoughts to entertain. "What thinkest 
thou?" 

If you would know the wealth of any soul, 
enter within the thought realm. The assessor, 
the tax collector, nor yet the banker can tell 

11 



the wealth of a single individual until account 
has been taken of the kingdom of the mind. 
Noble thought is wealth. It is your property, 
and it increases with generosity. No man can 
own noble thoughts and be a miser. They can- 
not be hid away and accumulate. When they 
are published, when they are given to others, 
when they are made to adorn other minds and 
beautify other souls, then they become genera- 
tive and other noble thoughts are born into life, 
which thoughts shall, in turn, beget other 
thoughts and still others and others, and thus 
the generation of noble thought is preserved to 
all eternity. Would you grow rich toward God ? 
Then think holy thoughts into the ears, into 
the minds, and into the hearts of your fellows. 
You remember the instruction of our Lord, 
''Give, and it shall be given unto you; good 
measure, pressed down, and shaken together, 
and running over, shall men give into your 
bosom.'' Even so the wealth of the mind is 
increased as one gives out, clothes and adorns 
other minds with his best, noblest, holiest 
thought. 

Ram's horns are not needed to publish your 
thoughts. If they are worth anything tlie world 
will discover them, even though they are given 
out so that the right hand does not know what 
the left hand has done. The world usually 
recognizes a great thought. It may not be able 
to find the parent of the thought — that is of 
little consequence; still the world is not slow 
in discovering a great thinker. Let him live 

12 



in the wilderness, like John the Baptist, and 
the world comes to him. A great thinker can 
no more be kept in hiding than can a great 
mountain peak. A Gladstone will discover 
himself to the world. An Emerson will come 
to the light. A Paul in chains and a Baxter in 
a dungeon are heard in all the world. The 
young man need not be in a hurry. If his 
thoughts are worth perpetuating, and he makes 
them known within the realm of his activities, 
they will receive recognition and will go upon 
their mission forever beautifying and blessing. 

Thought is revolutionizing. It is as Emerson 
said, "Every thought which genius and piety 
throw into the world alters the world.'' It takes 
men out of servitude into freedom. High and 
holy thinking precedes high and holy reforms. 
How can it be otherwise when great thoughts, 
coming out of the heart, are heard in heaven? 
The mind of Harriet Beecher Stowe swayed 
the North and the South, hastening the storm 
period of the war. When "thoughts that breathe 
and words that burn" are sent forth, human 
sympathies are touched and human deeds are 
compelled. 

In looking about for an attestation to man's 
immortality, shall we pass thought by? Does 
not the eternal thought speak in our thought ? 
In "Lucile" the author makes this declaration, 
"Thought alone is eternal." Mind is a revela- 
tion of infinite Mind. The thinker in man is 
the incarnation of the eternal Thinker. Mind — 
human mind — is a child of God; it is God 

13 



incarnate. This is the reason human thought 
is prospective. Thought is not born of this 
world. While thought is generative, yet this 
world and life only suggest thought. The 
human mind has a personal consciousness that 
thought is born deeper in the universe. Hence 
the human mind, in a healthy and normal con- 
dition, reflects back to the infinite Thinker, 
and at the altar of the eternal Thinker pays 
homage, hopes, prays, worships, adores. There 
is a universal prospective notion that immor- 
tality is a possibility. Mind thinks it so; 
thought says it is so. Is it not true? If 
thought is eternal, then the thinker is immortal, 
and man's hope hath foundations. 

Then keep the mind with all diligence. 
Nourish it with the most wholesome food. 
With unceasing care train the thinker in his 
thinking, for "as a man thinketh in his heart 
so is he.'' Think ! and think ! and keep think- 
ing ! and keep right on thinking ! always in the 
channels of eternal thought. Think ! 



14 



WHATSOEVER THINGS 

The scope of subjects ringing the door-bell 
of the mind, asking to be admitted to the coun- 
cil halls of the soul, is too many to enumerate. 
They appear in an infinite variety of forms. 
True enough, we do not see all of them. Daily 
we stare objects in the face without seeing 
them. Many of them lie on the surface; they 
are right by the roadside, under our feet; they 
are about our heads; we meet them every day, 
only they are not seen. We have eyes, but we 
see not. Our eyes are not wise; they have not 
had the training. It is not enough to plead 
defective vision; it is defective training, or the 
lack of training, which keeps one from seeing 
things which are clearly before the eyes. 

Let me illustrate this matter. I have gone 
through many a clover-field, but to this day of 
my life I never saw a four-leaf clover except 
some one pointed it out. I know a person, 
however, who is always picking up four-leaf 
clover stems. She seems to find them wherever 
there is clover. My eyes are not wise upon the 
clover-leaf subject. 

Two men go squirreling down upon the 
Verdigris. They hunt together. One, being 
accustomed to the woods and to squirreling, 
does all the seeing and almost all the shooting. 

15 



On the contrary, the same two men sit about 
the fireside to read. The one reads from forty 
to a hundred pages an hour, while the other 
stumbles over five to ten pages an hour. Their 
visual culture has proceeded along different 
lines and they are each comparatively blind in 
the realm of the other. 

Many things are not seen — ^not because we 
have not eyes, but because our eyes are lacking 
in their schooling. We have eyes, and yet we 
must train our eyes to see. They require 
schooling in the making of observations. 
Through the sense of vision we are taught to 
take note of ^Vhatsoever things.*^ The eye is 
the doorway through which material for the 
suggestion of thought feeds the mind. 

Through the psychic powers man looks in 
upon the mysteries of the universe and is privi- 
leged to study. The "whatsoever things" are 
before him; nothing is excluded. This is 
man's realm for exploration. 

In the domain of nature Shakespeare said it : 
There are "tongues in trees, books in running 
brooks, sermons in stones, and good in every- 
thing.^' Inquire of the fossils, and a large 
chapter in the story of the ages is read. Study 
"the evening lamps alight,'^ and the wondrous 
glory of God is shed forth. Eead the bold type 
of the handiwork of God in the "open secrets'' 
of nature; plunge into the realm of truth and 
facts ; invade the empires of commerce and gov- 
ernment; explore the domain of mechanics and 
inventions; penetrate the provinces of music 

16 



and art; take a homestead in the kingdom of 
morals and religion ; diligently inquire into any 
section of the universe, moral or physical, and 
entertaining subjects for thought will lift their 
heads and bid you welcome. Whether physical 
or spiritual, the universe is an open book from 
which man may read, and every time studious 
attention is given to either kingdom new things 
reveal themselves. 

So long as we keep our eyes open there is no 
danger of our failing of subjects of thought, 
of many subjects of thought; yes, of an infinite 
number of subjects of thought, for nothing is 
excluded. 

Everything comes within the range of the 
thinker. Because of this the possibilities of 
the human mind are very great. The most of 
us are yet unaware of the greatness and com- 
prehensiveness of these possibilities. 

The mind may grow, increase, build, and rise, 
pressing back the border lines of the unknown, 
discovering other kingdoms and exploring other 
realms. 

But growth — and certainly rapid growth — 
calls for protection, direction, and support. 
Experience proves the necessity of this aid in 
the development of the psychic entities. Mental 
and moral possibilities demand leadership. 

Certain inspiration and momentum come 
from contact with the masters. Making dili- 
gent inquiry into history and literature fur- 
nishes the mind with building material, dis- 
covers the "tall, sun-crowned men" who have 

2 17 



been the capable leaders, and toward, if not to 
them there is a natural drawing. 

However, while no neglect should be in- 
dulged in the study of men and history, it is a 
fact that the leadership afforded thereby is con- 
fusing and sends some adrift because they are 
without fixed, unyielding, and abiding moor- 
ings. "Who among the sons of the mighty is 
like unto Jehovah ?" 

Admire the constellations in literature and 
history and art, and the planetary personalities, 
but never lose sight of the Star of Bethlehem. 
It is in the Christ of God where we gain our 
best view of human possibilities. 

"God . . . hath quickened us together with 
Christ, . . . and hath raised us up together, 
and made us sit together in heavenly places in 
Christ Jesus : that in the ages to come he might 
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his 
kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.^' 

The possibilities of the human mind and 
heart "in the ages to come" are defined to us 
as "the exceeding riches of his grace in his 
kindness toward us." 

As we are but in the dawn of spiritual per- 
fection, we have only had a taste of "the exceed- 
ing riches of his grace." 

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man, the things 
that God hath prepared for them that love 
him." But they are being revealed to us, for 
"the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
things of God." 

18 



Putting one's self in a teachable attitude 
and remaining there, one can little know of the 
vastness of his attainments "in the ages to 
come/' 

It is not held that man can attain perfect 
knowledge of the infinite almightiness of God. 
"In the ages to come" God will still be God, the 
same wise, eternal Leader; and man will still 
be man, inquiring into the Infinite. 

Withdrawing ourselves from this far-away 
consideration, it is worthy of note that every 
subject coming under human observation is for 
man's study and thought. "All things are 
clean." Our Lord said so. He also said, "Not 
that which goeth into the mouth defileth a 
man." Wherein, then, is the defilement? Let 
him answer, "That which cometh out of the 
mouth, that defileth a man." 

How did Paul stand upon this question? 
"All things indeed are pure." "I know . . . 
that there is nothing unclean of itself." Again, 
"I . . . am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that 
there is nothing unclean of itself." 

Again, I ask. Where, then, is the defilement? 
Let Paul answer, "To him that esteemeth any- 
thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean." 

In this word "esteemeth" you have mind, 
thought, opinion, judgment. If the "mind and 
conscience is defiled," the estimate made will 
reflect that defilement. 

It is not the subject that is impure ; it is the 
defiled mind and conscience thinking impurity 
into the subject. 

19 



^'Unto the pure all things are pure : but unto 
them that are defiled and unbelieving is noth- 
ing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is 
defiled/^ 

Let me put in parenthesis right here a word 
of admonition. Discovering yourself thinking 
unholy thoughts upon any subject, desist. Dis- 
pel the fogs and clouds and miasmata from the 
mind, until in the clear sunlight of His purity 
all things appear in their proper relation — pure. 

While every subject coming under human 
observation is for man's study and thought, yet 
man cannot enter into a thorough and detailed 
consideration of every subject. Human limita- 
tions forbid such comprehensive enjoyment. 
Man hath not the attributes of Jehovah. He 
can see some things distinctly and well, but he 
cannot see all things at all times. While men- 
tal energies may compass many subjects, they 
are proficient only in a few subjects, and these 
few are comprehended with much study. 

It, therefore, becomes evident, for practical 
purposes, that some subjects should be more 
carefully pursued. The times are calling for 
specialists — men who know what has been 
taught, discovered and verified, upon certain 
subjects. 

And, still further, the times are calling for 
men to pursue lines of investigation, discover- 
ing, unfolding, bringing to light, and illumin- 
ating that which remains hidden and unknown. 

The chances are against your ever Imowing 
everything that is to be known upon, or about 



any given subject. Men have spent years of 
study upon what appear to be insignificant sub- 
jects without reaching the confines of these 
subjects. This is not ground for discourage- 
ment, but it is for the creation of a wisely con- 
trolled and directed ambition to know more 
than any one else has ever known upon that 
particular subject. Like Paul in his mission 
enterprises, having a desire to preach the gospel 
where it had not been preached, to organize 
churches upon new territory, and to build upon 
no other man's foundation, it is a worthy ambi- 
tion to blaze new paths into the forest wilds of 
unexplored subjects for thought. 

Bear in mind that while upon some subjects 
you are adding new information, and carving 
your name above all other names, in this prac- 
tical world it is necessary to know something 
about many subjects. "Know something of 
everything and everything of something." 
Most nations are acknowledging the necessity 
and value of the education of the masses. Thia 
is the early morning-time of universal enlight- 
enment. Specialists are multiplying, meeting a. 
genuine need, but the greatest need is the 
development of the masses. Out of a thor- 
oughly enlightened people will come taller 
scientists, broader statesmen, truer philan- 
thropists, clearer prophets, wiser leaders. This 
is the foundation for the next generation — 
know something of everjrthing. 

But know everything of something. This is 
the reason the mastery of some subject should 

21 



be urged : Every subject is related, and, begin- 
ning where you will, the one pursued the farth- 
est will bring you the nearest to the Author of 
all subjects. You can take any isolated fact, 
and in a few steps reach God. Given a fact; 
fact suggests action ; action, force ; force, power ; 
power, person; person, God. Just so it is, the 
more one studies any given subject the more 
he learns about the great Head of the universe. 

"Whatsoever things." Here is your field. It 
has no limitations. No one needs to be out of 
a subject of thought, or out of something to 
do. 

Among the "whatsoever things" there is no 
subject surpassing the study of mankind. No 
longer are we raising the question. What is man 
that man should be mindful of man? We are 
agreed with Pope that the greatest study of 
mankind is man. 

Take account of man in his domestic rela- 
tions, noting the evolution of home, of mother 
love, of father care, of brothers' sympathies, of 
sisters' affections, of home duties, of fireside 
privileges, and there opens a kingdom rich in 
its resources for thought. 

Take up the subject of social relations, re- 
viewing man in his conduct toward his fellows, 
and you will at once find yourself the center of 
a thousand interesting and perplexing questions 
buzzing about the brain. 

Turn attention to man in his business meth- 
ods. Watch man as he faces man across the 
counter, as he meets him in halls of commerce, 

22 



as he barters with him in the market-places, as 
he labors by his side in the shop or in the field, 
as he buys and sells and contracts and specu- 
lates, and you will find much to give pleasure 
and pain, much to cause the head to ache and 
the heart to be pained and to render the nerves 
unstrung, as well as much to cause you to 
rejoice and thank God. 

Take account of man in his governing 
processes; study him as a citizen; watch his 
conduct of the blessed right of an elector at 
the ballot-box; observe his interest or lack of 
interest in politics; note his movements in 
municipal affairs; follow him to the halls of 
legislation ; observe him passing judgment upon 
the laws enacted, enforcing constitutional and 
statutory measures, organizing revolutions, 
promoting wars, making treaties, instituting 
commissions, planning public improvements, 
developing the resources of the country, provid- 
ing for the intellectual improvement of its 
citizens and the education of its sons and daugh- 
ters, together with so many, many questions 
vital, virile, and interesting, and here you have 
many subjects of thought. 

Come within the realm of the religious pro- 
clivities of the race, and again your subjects 
begin to multiply ad infinitum. About man 
arise absorbing, commanding, perplexing, intri- 
cate, far-reaching questions. 

"What a piece of work is man ! How noble 
in reason ! how infinite in faculty ! in form and 
moving, how express and admirable! in action, 

23 



how like an angel ! in apprehension, how like a 
god ! the beauty of the world ! the paragon of 
animals !'' 

This is the, being to whom the investigation 
of all things in the world belongs. This is the 
being whose subjects of thought are as wide in 
range as is human comprehension of the uni- 
verse. In this consideration there is much to 
awaken a sense of the dignity and importance 
of human life. Man is certainly marvelously 
endowed. 

Is he the product of evolution ? Is not man 
himself the best argument to the contrary? 
A long while that theory may be in demonstra- 
ting its own fallacy, but evolution cannot 
account for man — self-conscious, thinking, rea- 
soning, worshipful man. 

Was not Moses right? "In the beginning 
God created the heaven and the earth.'' "So 
God created man in his own image, in the 
image of God created he him." 

In no other way are we able to account for 
man with his marvelous endowments. It is not 
enough to say, "God made him," but God 
"created" him. Think not lightly of your own 
self-conscious nature. Paul declares, You "are 
the image and glory of God." 

Moses begins the account of the generations 
of Adam this way, "In the day that God created 
man." 

In Hebrews (2:7) the author speaks of God's 
creation of man this way, "Thou madest him a 
little while inferior to the angels." 

24 



This is why man thinks so widely, and this 
is the reason his capabilities are so compre- 
hensive — God created him. Each of yon is one 
of his marvelous creations, ^^crowned with glory 
and honor." I am amazed when I think that, 
by creation, I am crowned with the glory and 
honor of God ! and that to me are opened the 
"whatsoever things" of the universe to think 
upon, and to contemplate, and to enjoy ! Then 
comes the admonition of our Lord to the church 
of Philadelphia, "Hold that fast which thou 
hast, that no man take thy crown." 

Physically this world is beautiful, but mor- 
ally, alas ! Hence it is upon the moral side of 
life that discriminations need to be made with 
nicety and care. Just here is where Paul puts 
a limitation to the "whatsoever things" ; and I 
ask your patience that we together may take up 
the interpretation of those things seriatim and 
think them over with a view to our personal 
improvement. Studious and devout attention 
to this Pauline program will produce an im- 
proved moral texture. As Charles Sumner 
taught, "The true grandeur of humanity is in 
moral elevation, sustained, enlightened, and 
decorated by the intellect of man." 



25 



ARE TRUE 

TiiEEE is one inevitable criterion of judgment 
touching the conclusions hitherto set forth for 
the instruction of those who are upon the thresh- 
old of the kingdom. Can this thinking, and 
thinking upon all matters material and spirit- 
ual, be reduced to practice? If it cannot, then 
have none of it. If it can, by all means make 
the effort. 

As high and holy thinking upon any and 
every subject precedes high and holy living in 
whatever relation, let us now step forth in 
thought and practice upon, "Whatsoever things 
are true?" 

This admonition is very comprehensive. It 
relates to what is said — speak the truth ; it re- 
lates to what may be offered to others — which 
must be genuine; it relates to conduct in busi- 
ness — and we must be honest; it relates to the 
professions made — there must not only be a 
lack of pretense, there must be the utmost sin- 
cerity. 

The native state of the mind calls for the 
true. Let it be illustrated: I knew a boy of 
five years to whom the mother often read. Upon 
one occasion she began a story. Before she had 
gone far the child interrupted her with the ques- 
tion, "Is it a true story, mamma ?" Being in- 

26 



formed that it was probably just a story, he 
made this request, "Then read me a true story/' 

Here is illustrated the conduct of the mind in 
its native state. It seeks for the thing "that 
hath foundations." The psychic tentacles reach 
forth seeking nourishment from the true and 
the genuine, from the honest and the sincere. 

The printing-press aided by telegraphy brings 
to our doors daily the happenings of the world. 
What does the social conscience want? What 
are the needs of the Christian young people? 
When outrages are reported, or famine condi- 
tions exist, or war is proposed, or a new cab- 
inet is being formed, or treaties are being 
signed, or peace congresses are in session, or 
whatever is being reported, what the social con- 
science wants, and the Christian young people 
need, and the world is asking for are reports 
which conform to facts. Becoming exercised 
over some sensational account and afterward 
discovering it to be nothing more than the 
imaginings of some ingenius reporter, the mind 
recognizes the imposition, and self-respecting 
natures feel the outrage. Only depraved and 
sensational minds are attracted by "yellow 
journalism." Historic records lose their value 
as soon as they are discovered to be false. 

People talk a great deal and there is no 
crime in conversation. The art of conversation 
is an accomplishment of high merit. Emerson 
teaches us that "conversation is the labora- 
tory and workshop of the student." Care should 
be taken to avoid the accusation of Lowell when 



he declares, "Our conversation is apt to run to 
words/' Words cannot be recalled when once 
spoken. Confucius instructed, saying, "A blem- 
ish may be taken out of a diamond by careful 
polishing; but if your words have the least 
blemish, there is no way to efface it.'' 

Whether we talk, write letters, dictate mes- 
sages, report for the papers, speak in the forum, 
or declare any sentiment, it should all conform 
to fact. 

Put an imperial guard at the door of the 
mouth. The gospel writers indicate that such 
a guard also should be kept at the ear-gate. 

Many cautions have been handed down 
through the ages which if they be heeded will 
save us from much embarrassment, and it may 
be from more shame : 

''Avoid profane and vain babblings." 
"Neither give heed to fables and vain gene- 
alogies." 

Nor turn "aside unto vain janglings." 
"Refuse profane and old wives' fables." 
"Strive not about words to no profit." 
"Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and com- 
mandments of men, that turn from the truth." 
"Avoid foolish questions, and contentions, 
and strivings." 

"Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips 
from speaking guile." 

Continually pray, "Let the words of my 
mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be 
acceptable in thy sight, Lord, my strength, 
and my redeemer." 

28 



There is no veto to be placed upon young 
minds reading fiction. It may be even more 
than a pleasant diversion. All fiction is not 
to be commended, for a vast deal of it is de- 
filed, appealing only to the baser sense. Per- 
sons are not to be commended for investing 
the most of their reading time in this class of 
literature, even though it is of the highest type. 
"Fact is stranger than fiction.'^ It is far more 
attractive, more inspiring and uplifting. The 
burden of one's study should be in the realm 
of the true. Fact, not fancy ; truth, not fiction, 
these are the things developing the mind of the 
soul and improving the humanity of the heart. 

A special commendation may be placed upon 
history study. It gives one a knowledge of the 
development of the race direct. 

Go into a recorder's office of public docu- 
ments and you will learn that when a document 
is filed for record it is expected to be copied 
into the books verbatim et literatim including 
punctuation marks and misspelled words. Only 
when it is thus recorded is it a true copy. Fail- 
ure to copy a legal document correctly might 
involve serious complications and cause trouble. 

Once upon going into a molding shop the 
workmen were found ready to turn out a large 
piece of iron. On being cooled it was put in 
shape for testing; but it was found not to fit. 
It would not do. It had been made from a new 
pattern, and the pattern not being correctly 
carved produced a flaw in the molding, and 

29 



the whole piece was useless, and had to be 
thrown aside as old iron. 

A rule is worthless if it is violated at every 
turn. A theorem is not demonstrated when you 
are half through with the problem. The general 
appearance of a pattern may seem correct until 
it is put to the test. Machinery requires things 
to be exact. They must not approach the exact 
pattern; they must be just like the exact pat- 
tern. They must be true. 

You go to the photographer to have your 
picture taken. When the proof is shown, you 
say, "That will never do !" "But wait till it 
is touched up and smoothed out,'' rejoins the 
photographer. By and by it is retouched, and 
some pictures are printed. How different now ! 
It flatters you, making you appear really hand- 
some. Such pictures you pass freely among 
your friends, and, ordering an extra dozen, you 
specially compliment the photographer. But, 
my dear friends, you cannot keep a high grade 
camera with a perfect lens from doing perfect 
work. It takes things just as they are; herein 
is its value. Of course the photographer may 
retouch the negative according to his custom- 
er's liking, but the photographer would not have 
an instrument in his shop that would produce 
negatives with the personal ear-marks of the 
customer left out. Such a camera would be 
returned to the factory within a week. The 
camera must produce pictures that conform to 
the subject. They must be exact pictures. They 
must be true. 

30 



It is wise to have but few intimate friends. 
A Chinese moral maxim runs this way, "There 
are plenty of acquaintances in the world, but 
very few real friends." You would not like to 
believe with Aristotle that "there are no 
friends." He who holds faithfulness and sin- 
cerity as first principles will have friends. Or 
as Emerson puts it, "The only way to have 
friends is to be one." But the person who 
follows you like your shadow when the sun 
shines, but leaves you the instant you cross 
into the shade, is not to be reckoned as a true 
friend. The friend that is worth while goes 
with you into the wilderness. He is a true 
shepherd following you far on the dark moun- 
tain of sin that he may redeem and bring you 
home in safety. 

There are no words capable of describing the 
pain of heart consequent upon the discovery of 
a traitor among those whom you have thought 
were true and lasting friends. 

It is an easy matter to make promises; and 
many there are who make them as if they really 
enjoyed seeing how much discomfort they might 
produce, and, in the making, they "will un- 
sphere the stars with oaths." Beware of the 
one who is ever trying to prove what he is say- 
ing by a witness. There are men who are prompt 
to do what they say. If they fail they have a 
good reason and you can commiserate them. 
Their word is as good as their bond. And what 
is a promise worth if it is not worth the keep- 
ing? Human society is constructed after such 

31 



a fashion that it is impossible for us to get on 
in the world without putting confidence in one 
another. We must trust men. We must be- 
lieve in men. Yet, withal, if men desire to be 
trusted they must prove themselves trustworthy ; 
for in human society we desire to bind our- 
selves only to those who "are true." 

The social fabric is so constructed that out 
from among us are called certain qualified per- 
sons to whom we delegate authority to make 
laws for us; to administer those laws; and to 
sit in judgment among us. Here is our oppor- 
tunity to prove ourselves. They cannot per- 
form the functions of their offices well except 
with our cooperation. They can call into judg- 
ment a few, but when the masses rebel against 
the authority vested in the officers, then appears 
anarchy, revolution, and society is no longer 
safe. The citizenship must show its faith in 
its country and its properly-selected officers. 
Sometimes officers are recreant to the confi- 
dence imposed in them. When officers "are 
true," there is no need for persistent investi- 
gations, and impeachments are unknown. Duty 
demands of us to think how we may promote 
the well-being of the social fabric; to study 
ways and means for the development of the 
public good; to set a premium upon fidelity to 
our selected officers; to obey the laws and to 
seek their enforcement; to show ourselves loyal 
to our country in times of peace as well as in 
war. In other words we are to be true men in 
every station in life. 

32 



In this present time there are many counter- 
feits. Manifold numbers deal in "green goods." 
That is the reason our banks emphasize the gold 
standard. They use paper money but sparingly. 
It is harder to discount gold than paper. When 
you receive your month's wages you insist on 
sound money. In buying and selling it is 
money that will pass in the markets of the 
world that you are after. You want to know 
that your dollars "are true." 

Adulterations are common. Factories have 
their trade-marks. That trade-mark is pro- 
tected by law. Penalties are prescribed for 
the defilement of certain articles of commerce. 
Going to the store and making a purchase, you 
want the pleasure of returning with the gen- 
uine article for which you called. The mer- 
chant who cares to build up a good and safe 
trade seeks to protect his customers against 
shoddy fabrics and adulterated groceries. It 
is not wise to deal at any store where you are 
required to keep a watch over the persons wait- 
ing upon the customers. Crowded orders and 
padded books may increase the profits, but will 
not build up a reliable business. When you 
go shopping you go to buy of the "whatsoever 
things are true." 

The commercial conscience of the world is 
not as bad as it might be — as it has been. I 
think the same may be said of the political and 
social conscience of the world. In looking for 
a reason we have not far to go. The religious 
mind and conscience of the world have im- 

R 33 



proved. Christly principles are on the increase. 
The ethics of the world have inscribed the 
Golden Rule on the earth, the sky, and the 
sea. It is the leaven leavening the whole lump. 
The tabernacle of God is among men. Is he 
not dwelling with them ? Are they not becom- 
ing his people? 

This message is desired for those who have 
confessed Jesus Christ to be "Redeemer, Savior, 
and Friend." The ambition of your lives is to 
be like Christ. You hold your lives up to this 
plummet. What would Jesus dof You measure 
your thinking by his thinking. He inspires your 
sympathies. He corrects your errors. He stim- 
ulates your motives. Before your eyes he ever 
appears as your ideal pattern. To you he is a 
rock in a weary land. When the heart is broken 
you look to him for comfort. When friends 
prove false you come to him, "a friend that 
sticketh closer than a brother." Every time 
you turn your eyes to him, you see the One 
who is "true," and your heart craves to be like 
him. The cry of the heart is, "Oh, to be like 
him." 

Turn with me to I. John 3 : 2 and read : "Be- 
loved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be: but we know 
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; 
for we shall see him as he is." This is your 
reward for faithful service, being "like Him." 
Have you this hope ? Do you expect to be like 
your ideal? Somewhere along life's pathway 
Christ will appear; you will see him. You 

34 



may not know him. Why? You have not be- 
come like him. Yon want to become like him. 
Is not this your hope? Listen to these words, 
"And every man that hath this hope in him 
pnrifieth himself, even as he is pure." Clothe 
yourselves in the pure, clean robes of righteous- 
ness, and when he meets you along life's path- 
way you will recognize him, and know him, be- 
cause you are like him. When he appears he 
will not disguise himself. "We shall see him as 
he is." Everywhere on him the stamp of 
"TEUE" will appear. He is the true Ee- 
deemer. Savior, and Friend whom we have 
trusted and confessed. And WE SHALL BE 
LIKE HIM. Then there will appear on me 
at every look the same stamp, "TEUE." You 
"AEE TEUE." 



35 



ARE HONEST 

Plain, simple, unalloyed honesty is a virtue 
of high rank. In making a compass of Chris- 
tain morality and in estimating the compara- 
tive worth of the elements comprehended, the 
worth of the things pertaining to the honorable 
which are deserving of self-respect are not to 
be placed at the foot. Certainly not if we agree 
with Pope in his "Essay on Man,^^ saying, "An 
honest man's the noblest work of God/' 

Men with high sense of honor are not as 
numerous as they might be. They are not for 
number as the sand on the seashore, or as the 
stars in the heavens. In the crowds on the 
streets many are the passers-by who have not 
learned the first principles of well-fortified hon- 
esty. With them honor and reputation are ta- 
booed. They estimate money to be of more 
value than integrity, and that cunning and craft 
shall stand above honesty. 

This advice is given, that we should think 
upon "whatsoever things are honest," or are 
honorable, or reputable. Often stories are told 
of men, and sometimes of women also, who go 
among the slums of the great cities for no other 
purpose than that of sightseeing; in doing 
this they gain subjects for thought that are for- 
bidding. They are cultivating a sense that 

36 



craves rude, vulgar, uncomely things to think 
upon. Men will go out of their way to get 
glimpses of the defiled things of life, and then 
will go away and talk about them. If one goes 
into the hard places of the earth on a mission 
of love and service, he goes, having "underneath 
the everlasting arms,'^ holding him above that 
which contaminates, while he may minister to 
that which had been defiled, redeeming it to the 
high and holy life where honor dwells. 

There are many things which suggest evil 
thoughts. They do not belong to the honorable. 
They are far from being reputable. This is not 
the place or the time to speak of them. How- 
ever the personal character and life of the Chris- 
tian are called upon to resist evil with righteous- 
ness. If one goes into forbidden places, he 
should go with the pure white light of a life 
consecrated to the exalted service of salvation, 
and not with the lambent flame of curiosity. 

There are things that are honorable in the 
sight of all men, and these are things worthy 
of your consideration. When Paul instructed 
the Roman Christians (Rom. 13:17), saying, 
"Take thought for things honorable in the sight 
of all men," he spoke in full knowledge of many 
evils existing in that great city and in the 
Roman government. His appeal was not that 
they should reform the government, either of the 
city or of the empire, but that they should take 
on the sublime virtues of the Christian faith. 
It was a tall idea then ; it is as tall an idea now, 
taking thought for the things that are reputable, 

37 



honorable, high, and holy in the sight of all 
men. 

In the presence of evil and all sorts of things 
dishonorable, rebuke them with purity and hon- 
esty. Live above them even though you may 
be compelled to live among them. You may 
find it necessary to resist evil ; aye, you will find 
it necessary to resist evil many times ; but again 
the admonition of the Apostle comes up, 
"Eender to no man evil for evil." 

Duplicity has not the first commendable char- 
acteristic. Be what you pretend to be, unless 
you pretend to be mean, and if that is your pre- 
tense, cease it at once, for a man cannot afford 
even the pretense of meanness in his life. The 
man who talks pious when the minister is in 
sight and otherwise when he is gone, is a man 
to be received with caution. Awhile ago I 
called on a young man who had resigned his 
position and was going away. The purpose of 
my calling was to make some inquiry into the 
work he had been doing and to know what was 
required of him. I learned a number of things, 
some of which I was sorry to know existed. The 
young man criticised, and with some bitterness, 
the methods employed by his superintendent, 
and complained of the very hard lot he had had 
under him, professing that if the work were not 
so hard and the hours so long, he would like to 
remain. A few days after his departure a letter 
was found which he had written awhile before 
going away, and, having been misplaced, it 
failed to get posted. It was written to a "dear 



friend" and talked freely of his work, declar- 
ing that on the average he was not required to 
labor more than three hours per day. Up to this 
time it was supposed that what this young man 
had said was true, when in fact it was very false. 
It is uncomfortable to come even into the pres- 
ence of a man who is double-faced. No one can 
afford the practice of double-dealing. It is not 
honest; nor can such a man be honorable. 

Election times come round. Politics runs 
high. Aye, it rises to fever heat- Perhaps 
there are only two papers in the county seat. 
Manifestly the county is Democratic, yet in 
the turn of affairs the board of supervisors is 
divided with the Eepublicans in the majority. 
Those two papers may come to an agreement 
as to whom they will elect, or try to elect. Here 
the Democrats will pair off a man with a Eepub- 
lican there, and vice versa_, clear through the 
ticket. And for what is this done? It is that 
each paper may have a creditable share of the 
county's printing. This sort of procedure is 
not uncommon. It is one of the methods em- 
ployed, even though it may bear the imprint of 
disloyalty to the party each paper professes to 
represent. 

It is not every transaction that will bear the 
scrutiny of the public gaze. Underneath the 
surface are evidences of a damaging nature 
against the lives of many. 

Blackmailing is alien to brotherhood. Of 
what can men be thinking when they are pre- 
paring a list of their fellow men, fellow work- 

39 



men, using every endeavor to damage both busi- 
ness and characters ? They cannot be thinking 
of the sublime teachings of the New Testament 
touching our relations. If they were they would 
cease to render evil for evil. They would take 
thought for the things that are honorable. 
Can one think of the boycott as being other 
than foreign to sympathetic human relations? 

The class of employees is a large one. Per- 
haps you are one; if so, accept this word of 
counsel, Be true to your employer. There is 
no other gospel to proclaim. Being in the em- 
ploy of another, you cannot remain thus and 
be honest without being true to him. Or to 
put it another way. You cannot be true to your 
employer and remain in his service without be- 
ing honest. If you are asked to cheat, or lie, 
or in any wise deceive, you cannot do it and be 
true to him, no more than you can deceive, lie, 
and cheat, and be true to yourself. When called 
upon to represent your employer do not engage 
the privilege to exploit him. If he is not satis- 
fied with honest service, there is just one course 
to pursue, and that is decline to serve him. In 
order to be true to your employer you must re- 
sign, and your resignation is absolutely neces- 
sary or you will be false to your own manhood. 

There lived an ancient people of whom it was 
said, "Their honorable men are famished." Nor 
is it a story or myth. The record goes on say- 
ing, "Their multitude are dried up with thirst. 
Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened 
her m.outh without measure: and their glor}', 

40 



and their multitude, and their pomp, and he 
that rejoiceth shall descend into it/' 

There is a good deal of evidence showing that 
the ancient record is being outdone in modern 
times. 

Honesty is a cardinal virtue. Set it aside 
you may, but this will produce its own calamity. 
Many men have failed in business for the lack 
of this virtue. 

"Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of 
thistles ?" Nay, nay ! Every tree after its kind. 

My dear young friends, you will have tempta- 
tions enough coming from without and you need 
not indulge the craft of sin by creating pitfalls 
and tripping devices for your own entanglement. 
Keep the scales properly adjusted so that neither 
you nor any man is deceived. In some clerkship 
to which you may be summoned "little tricks of 
trade" will be suggested; you had better suffer 
hunger than to sear your conscience by doing 
them. As a pupil you may be tempted to cheat 
in some school examination; as a dressmaker 
you may fail to secure your seams; as a con- 
tractor you may suffer temptation to put poor 
lumber in the building, especially where it will 
not be seen; as a reporter you may be tempted 
to color up your report after the manner of the 
sensational newspaper man. Wherever you are 
and in whatever business you engage, you will 
be subject to temptations of a peculiar nature, 
and they will take you unawares. Let me en- 
courage you to begin hewing to the line. Keep 
your head above the waves. 

41 



"Ever follow that which is good, both among 
yourselves, and to all men." 

There are worse things than poverty and 
among them let avarice be named. It is a weed 
that will grow in a barren soil. It allies itself 
with dishonesty and dishonesty clings to it. It 
devours widows' houses and for a pretense makes 
long prayers. Avarice leaves behind a trail of 
cheating, of lying, of stealing, of tricks, of cun- 
ning, of any thing to get gain. Do you want 
such a record trailing after you to the grave? 
You can aiford to be poor, if that is your only 
and best way to an honorable life. You can af- 
ford to be poor, sleep on a board, feed on crusts, 
wear patches, have holes in your hat, and your 
shoes out at the toes, but you cannot afford to 
be dishonest. 

"A good name is rather to be chosen than 
great riches, and loving favor rather than silver 
and gold." 

Character is of more value than money, and 
a "good name" and "loving favor" are but 
other expressions of the value of character. 
Character must be the aim, for herein does man 
attain possessions great and permanent. In the 
development of character, that which is honor- 
able and reputable must be cultivated. 

If you would grow corn, you must study to 
know the conditions of soil and climate favor- 
able to the production of corn, and you must 
study to know what is your part of the work, 
and then you must labor to mieet those condi- 
tions. 

42 



A life of honor and repute does not obtain 
by accident. The weeds must be kept out; new 
life must be grafted into it; proper cultivating 
and pruning must be done, before an excellent 
quality of fruit is produced. Honor does not 
grow out of conditions merely; it may be lim- 
ited by environment, but, quoting Pope again, 
^'Act well your part, there all the honor lies." 

Men are what they want to be; what they 
make themselves to be. The rogue is a rogue 
because he willed to be mean, and cultivating 
meanness he developed into a rogue. A man is 
honest when he wills to be honest and cultivates 
honesty. It, therefore, behooves every one de- 
siring the better things to fix his mind on them ; 
think on them ; seek them ; make a conquest and 
achieve honesty as well as every other virtue 
entering into noble manhood. "Seek those 
things which are above." "Look up and not 
down." "Set your mind on things above, not 
on things on the earth." Whosoever WILL may 
be saved. "Whosoever WILL, let him take the 
water of life freely." A man is what he wills 
to be. He is what he makes himself to be. He 
is not compelled to obey the dictates of his en- 
vironments. The water-lily rooted in the muck 
and the mire blooms in beauty. The Califor- 
nia deserts, at certain seasons of the year, are 
covered with many varieties of flowers rare and 
beautiful. A man does not have to live under 
the shadow of a church in order to achieve good- 
ness. Within the sound of the college bell men 
may go wrong. Violets of the most exquisite 

43 



beauty have been seen to bloom under the thorny 
thicket. 

The man who made his bean-sacks weigh 
forty-nine pounds instead of fifty, did it be- 
cause he wanted to. The man who drank whis- 
ky, drank because he wanted to; he may not 
have wanted to lie in the gutter, but he wanted 
to drink all he could, and some one had to pick 
him out of the gutter. 

"He that walketh uprightly walketh surely.'^ 
He must think what he is doing. When you 
see a man living an honorable life in the pres- 
ence of his fellows, you are certain that man 
is a man of imderstanding. He thinks upon all 
his ways. His mind goes before his words. His 
thoughts outline his path. He says: "As for 
me and my house, we WILL serve the Lord." 

The honorable, reputable life is an achieve- 
ment with thought as its fore-runner, and then 
that thought is wrought out in the every-day, 
earnest, watchful endeavor to "keep step with 
the Master.'' 

Have this for your encouragement : "He that 
walketh uprightly shall be saved." "Those that 
wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the 
earth." "Delight thyself also in the Lord ; and 
he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." 
"Mark the perfect man, and behold the up- 
right : for the end of that man is peace." "The 
path of the just is as the shining light, that 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 
"Whatsoever things are honorable . . . think 
on these things." 

44 



ARE JUST 

One of the disasters with which the United 
States of America is threatened, is a low sense 
of justness in all the relations of life. It is 
that low sense which suffers an epidemic of 
lawlessness with which our nation is menaced. 
Thoughtful men, who can read on the face 
of the sky the omen of grief, are giving dili- 
gence to the question, seeking if perhaps they 
may discover a remedy. There seems to be a 
conclusion — and it is very general — that the 
remedy rests largely, almost entirely, with the 
Church of Jesus Christ. 

While this means that the ministry must play 
an important part in securing remedial grace, 
it does not mean that the laity are absolved 
from obligation, or that the young people 
should cease from seeking ways and means for 
the safety of the body politic. 

Addressing myself primarily to young peo- 
ple, this needs to be said: You hold in your 
hands the weal or woe of the future. All you 
have to do is to speak the word and act it out, 
and this nation is safe, or it is imperiled. Your 
responsibility is so great it ought to make you 
begin to cry to God, "Teach me thy way, 
Lord, and lead me in a plain path." 

45 



The standard of righteousness which we em- 
ploy is not modern constructions. The race 
has been a long while coming to its present 
standard. We are the old world worked over. 
We have organized some new combinations, but 
we have done it out of old elements. This word 
of caution is offered because young life is apt 
to lose sight of the evolution of things, becoming 
boastful of the newness of things that they are 
the product of the superior genius which now 
commands the world. 

Let us not all at once get our heads among 
the stars, "for I say, through the grace that 
was given me, to every man that is among you, 
not to think more highly of himself than he 
ought to think; but so to think as to think 
soberly, according as God hath dealt to each 
man a measure of faith." 

Every nation is a great social compact; but 
nowhere does that agreement more closely re- 
late the people than in the United States of 
America. We are all equally identified with 
the federal head, and loyal or not we are all 
sons of America. There is no governmental 
position to which we may not succeed. 

Increasingly dear to every loyal child should 
be the welfare of the republic. Its institutions 
promoting liberty, freedom, industry, education, 
brotherhood, morality, religion should be cher- 
ished and guarded as the apple of the eye. The 
things appearing as barnacles, threatening the 
general good, should be resisted, hindered, and, 
wherever possible, prevented. What shall the 

46 



young people have to do with forwarding the 
prosperity and happiness of this great land ? 

There is no apology to make in speaking of 
this question. I am hut one of a multitude 
desiring to quicken the conscience of the peo- 
ple and to strengthen the moral fiber. 

j^ow this subject, "Whatsoever things are 
just/^ has to do with the personal righteousness 
of all. Society is composed of many units and 
the individual citizen is the integer. He counts 
one. The social standard can be no higher than 
the average ethical standard of the individuals. 
It is of the utmost importance that each young 
person should cultivate a sense of justness, of 
righteousness, of equity, of fidelity, of trust- 
worthiness, of loyalty that will stand high pres- 
sure. 

In order to raise the standard you must live 
above the average. To live below the average 
is to lower the standard. You are in danger of 
lowering the ethical standard by only living up 
to it. To raise the moral sense of righteousness, 
you must live a life that will outrank, in the 
scale of values, the lives of the most. 

You have special duties toward society as a 
whole, and you must perform them without 
fear or favor. Your course must be as straight- 
forward as it is possible to make it. You will 
meet men in the business realm, and will be 
tempted to yield to common business methods. 
You will have to meet methods that will cause 
you to question, and you must pass judgment 
upon them. "Can you do them and do right ?" 

47 



You must answer the question for yourself. It 
will be harder to say, "No," when you come 
face to face with a given problem, than it may 
seem at a distance. It is like this : You go gun- 
ning, and you chance upon some fine game ; but 
the law throws restrictions about the doe, or 
quail, or dove, and you cannot use your fowling- 
piece upon that game and remain guiltless be- 
fore the law. Here is a place where you are 
tempted, but you dare not shoot. 

If you would follow the example of a Joseph 
of Arimathea, having it said of you as of him, 
"He was a good man, and a just,'^ there are 
some things commonly done in the business 
world you will be called upon to refuse. You 
will be jostled about a good deal ; your faith \^dll 
be tested; your honesty will be strained; your 
sense of the justness of things will be attacked* 
it will not be an easy road to travel. But you 
are not looking for an easy way through the 
world. If you are truly consecrated to right- 
eousness, you will follow David's advice, ad- 
monishing you, "Commit thy way unto the 
Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it 
to pass." He does not say anything about the 
manner in which it shall be brought to pass. 
The way may be hard enough, but being God's 
way it will be a sure and safe way. 

Confessedly this way of righteousness is a 
way of faith. While you are encouraged to 
have faith in your fellows and in business 
methods in general, as well as in the govern- 
ment, you are exhorted to lay hold of God. "The 

48 



just shall live by faith." The righteousness of 
God is revealed from faith to faith. Thus saith 
the Lord, "If any man draw back, my soul shall 
have no pleasure in him." Have faith in God. 
You will strengthen the faith of your friend; 
and from friend to friend will go this vital 
power, adding strength and courage, building 
up and fortifying the righteousness of the whole 
social realm. "Without faith it is impossible 
to please God." Choose then the faith-walk. 
"The just shall live by faith." Put the empha- 
sis where it belongs, "LIVE." Be a good man 
and you shall "LIVE." 

This is a goodness which shall be positive in 
public as well as in private life. Officers of the 
law and judges of the courts need to study 
righteousness, and acquaint themselves with 
equity and justice. Indeed, nothing is more 
becoming in an officer, be he legislator, judge, 
or executor, than to be regardful of these two 
principles. It is not enough to be just, but he 
must love mercy, and in his life walk uprightly. 

The Latins used to say, "Reason and author- 
ity are the two brightest lights in the world." 
Perhaps so; certainly unreasonable authority is 
a galling yoke to be resisted by any people. For- 
tunate is that community which can look the 
authority in the face with confidence. It is a 
blessing to be able to look up to the officers, 
saying, "These are honorable men; they are 
trustworthy ; justice and equity are safe in their 
hands; they are strangers to impartiality; they 
speak and act the oracles of God." 

4 49 



Some of us are acquainted with men, called 
to responsible places, who refuse justice ; nor is 
the law of equity discoverable among them. It 
is unfortunate that men having such a low 
sense of justness should ever be chosen for pub- 
lic duty; yet this is one of the unhappy tricks 
in popular government, that it is possible for 
men to gain public places who are unfit and 
incapable. But it has its remedy: There is a 
day of judgment for every inefficient, incompe- 
tent, unfit officer; at the ballot box he must 
"answer for the deeds done in the body,^' dur- 
ing his incumbency. This is the people's court 
where every man is an effective judge. "The 
voice of the people is the voice of God." When 
the people speak, it is God's oracle. We have 
full faith in Abraham Lincoln's aphorism, say- 
ing, "You can fool all the people some of the 
time; you can fool some of the people all the 
time ; but you cannot fool all the people all the 
time." But when will constituted authority 
learn this valuable lesson? 

"Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, 
in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure. Just 
balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just 
hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God. 
. . . Therefore shall ye observe all my stat- 
utes, and all my judgments and do them : I am 
the Lord." 

"Whatsoever things are righteous." The his- 
tory of the development of our notions of right- 
eousness — I mean our ideal notions — is one, if 
it were studied with painstaking diligence, 

50 



which would bring to light a beautiful progress 
revealing a sort of Jacobus ladder reaching up 
toward the skies and upon it the angels of God 
would be seen coming and going, ministering to 
human necessities. 

The jurisprudence of the race began on a 
very risky site, but through centuries of pile- 
driving, ten great foundation-stones were put 
in position, and for centuries more upon them 
the race employed itself in the construction of 
ten great columns upon which came a temple 
of law; but its insufficiency was recognized in 
the chancery of heaven. It needed a fulfill- 
ment; then a deepening and broadening of its 
foundation. One was found to perform this 
incomparable task. With what wisdom and 
grace He did it, is known to all men. Experi- 
ence, wisdom, love, mercy, sympathy, organ- 
ization, instruction, direction, faith, hope, serv- 
ice, self-sacrifice, every godly virtue mingled in 
putting in place the gospel shaft from which 
life and immortality should radiate, and around 
which equity and justice should circle to the 
everlasting benefit of mortals. Let it be put 
after yet another manner : 

The great temple of law-building out of the 
ages lacked spirit and soul. The sweetness of 
mercy was waiting conception. This need ap- 
pealed to the Christ mind. He determined to 
fulfill the law by putting "grace and truth" on 
the throne. He made "primal duties," as 
Wordsworth says, "shine aloft like stars." He 
gave to humanity other and newer conceptions 

51 



of life. The morning star of brotherhood began 
to shine. Obligations binding in conscience 
gained recognition. His sword went to the 
heart of the regime. Revolutions were bom. 
Governments were overturned. Eeligious lib- 
erty gained residence. Political liberty became 
a fact to be enjoyed among men. The dawn of 
industrial liberty was here. Righteousness is 
in the land. Equity is universally demanded, 
if not universally awarded; and, "the taber- 
nacle of God is with men.^' It is gaining in its 
adornments; its usefulness is more and more 
acknowledged. 

In perfecting the ethical standard of right- 
eousness among men, some great and serious 
needs appear. Let some of them be mentioned : 

One great need is, that men, in private life, 
should be like the cool, clear, health-giving 
fountain, trickling down from the granite 
mountains, quenching the thirst of bird or 
beast. Or, as Jacob Bachtel, a man of pioneer 
ministrations among the mountaineers of West 
Virginia, said of himself, "I want my life to 
be as clear as crystal, so that you might hang it 
on the horns of the moon and let the angels 
read it there." 

Another great need is, that men, in business 
relations, shall hold that "a just weight is his 
delight,'' and that he will lay "righteousness to 
the plummet," and judgment to the line. 

Another is, that, in politics, bosses, dictators, 
ward politicians, subverters of the public will, 

52 



traducers of the public conscience, so far as 
possible, shall be eliminated. 

Still another is, that the demands of society 
shall be refused when they fail to conform to 
the high ethical standards suggested by the 
Golden Eule and the Sermon on the Mount. 
Society is coming up, but not fast enough, yet 
we must be as patient as possible. 

Again, that legislators should cultivate con- 
science; should repeal all unjust laws; should 
enact laws conforming to the growth of the 
public conscience and to meet the needs of the 
body politic ; should, at all times, have in mind 
the good and safety, the happiness and pros- 
perity of their constituents, and the ultimate 
perfection of the race. 

And, that our courts of justice, in their inter- 
pretations of law, should see to it that no one 
suffers wrong, and that the public good is also 
conserved; that equity and justice are right- 
eously meted out; that "ye shall do no unright- 
eousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect 
the person of the poor, nor honor the person of 
the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou 
judge thy neighbor"; and see to it that the^ 
nation^s escutcheon is not defiled, nor its ban- 
ners trailed in infamy. 

And still again, that the executors of the law 
shall not oppress the people, or any part of the 
people ; that they shall administer the law with 
impartiality ; that they shall not wink at wrong 
in friend or foe, and stand impotent in the pres- 
ence of known violations; that, rememberings 

53 



they are the trustees of the public peace, they 
shall see that the peace is not disturbed and that 
the public safety is not menaced. 

And this contention obtains, that all our ways 
may become just and true, righteous and honor- 
able, measuring up to this : 

"Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers 
weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not 
have in thine house divers measures, a great and 
a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just 
weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou 
have: and that thy days may be lengthened in 
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.'' 

You will therefore see the necessity of taking 
thought for the things that are just and right, 
true and righteous. "Whatsoever things are 
just . . . think on these things." 



54 



ARE PURE 

Society has a right to demand of us that 
we prove ourselves before much confidence is 
imposed in us. 

The purposes and motives of my father may 
have been of the highest order, but until my 
purposes and motives are understood, I need not 
expect responsible business men to take stock 
in me. 

Young men may do business for a little while 
on the good name of their parents, but it will 
not last long unless they can make a name for 
themselves. They must prove themselves to be 
men who are trustworthy; as the Corinthians 
were instructed by that master of letter-writers 
as well as preachers, "Proving ourselves . . . 
by pureness." 

We are living in a day when manhood and 
womanhood are put to the test. The world has 
accepted the mandate, "Prove all things; hold 
fast to that which is good.^' With respect to 
worthful manhood and womanhood, there is 
always an honorable and responsible place 
awaiting them. It is getting harder every day 
for men of low purpose and mean ideals to fill 
places of trust. 

Society expects of those who gain the confi- 
dence of the public that they live above re- 

55 



proach, free from suspicion, avoiding the very 
appearance of evil. 

I firmly believe it is easier to do right than 
it is to do wrong. I am certain that is the 
belief of almost the whole of humanity; but 
human nature wants to do some hard thing. 
The heart pants after the romantic. Anybody 
can do right, but it is not everybody who can 
beguile and entrap. The pent-up nature within 
the most of us seeks to do something out of the 
ordinary; something showing genius, skill, 
craft, demonstrating originality, proving that 
there is resident smartness. And just so, it is 
hard to begin the downward step. It requires 
an unusual amount of self-assertiveness for one 
to hold the reins in his hands and, regardless of 
consequences, drive whither he wills to drive. 
Having made the start on the down grade, 
momentum is gained with each revolution, and 
very soon it appears there is no way but the 
downward road. Man is more than an animal, 
a material thing, that he should be the subject 
of gravity! 

It is a great and commanding achievement 
for one to live above suspicion. It is an achieve- 
ment the most of us have failed of making. 
You may fail of that high standard. The fail- 
ure may be the result of ignorance, but the pub- 
lic will very likely accept it as resulting from 
some other cause. Still the brave-hearted will 
not be put down. They will live until they 
have proved themselves to be clear and clean. 

With open eyes and mind alert the art of 

56 



avoiding the very appearance of evil needs to be 
learned. 

Society obligates us to avoid complicity in 
sin and crime. Other men sin, but we do not 
have to be partakers in their sins. We shall 
have enough of our own to bear and to suffer. 
To assume partnership with any other will in- 
crease the load. When one alone sins, the guilt 
is small compared with that when he sins with 
others. It is this partnership business in 
infamy against which society cries out, and 
should cry out the loudest. 

Now let me speak more directly to the first 
meaning of this text, "Whatsoever things are 
pure." The first meaning of the word "pure," 
as here employed, is "chaste." It therefore re- 
lates to virtue with this distinction: Virtue is 
the unprofaned natural excellence in either 
man or woman, but especially in woman, while 
chastity opposes the violation of that most deli- 
cate law with which the propagation of the race 
has to do. 

The life of the race is greatly vested in its 
baser nature. There are not many who are 
"whiter than new snow on a raven's back." 
Obsceneness and barbarous conduct are freely 
indulged. Man sins by what is lowest in him ; 
woman sins by what is highest in her. How- 
ever, there is no sex in chastity. Beauty of 
character suggests neither male nor female. 
Nature is not partial to sex. Unequal judgment 
is a result of nurture. 

57 



All flowers are fragrant and beautiful. The 
water-lily makes a mistake in criticising the 
dog-fennel. Widely different is the fragrance 
of the rose and the odor of the Yucca. 

Did you think the olfactory nerve was an 
infallible guide? To some the fragrance of 
upturned soil rises like incense, while the 
ambrosial air from a flower-garden sickens at 
times. There are others who rather enjoy the 
smell from a glue factory, a brewery, a paper- 
mill, or a tobacco shop. Can you train the eye ? 
So you can the nose. 

Human judgment has been schooled to ap- 
prove in man what it condemns in woman. It 
recognizes a double moral standard. Sin in 
woman brings shame and disgrace. Man sins, 
rising in honor and in fame. She retires with 
confusion of face ; he proceeds bearing a "stain- 
less name." 

Who is to blame? To blame! Humanity! 
Not man only ; not woman only ; both ! 

The sexes employ a unity of judgment, de- 
manding of woman a sinless life. Should she 
be betrayed, the common judgment of man and 
woman is, she must seek the side streets, the 
daxk alleys, and sub-cellars. On the other hand, 
but little is required of man. 

Is man a dog that he should be allowed to 
feed upon his wanton uncondemned ? 

Virtue is virtue and is not transferable. It 
is the strength and beauty of the soul. It is 
Heaven^s choicest gift. It is a wealth that 
never encumbers. It is brave, has courage, is 

58 



full of vigor. Its theater is the conscience. Its 
sinews are good company and chaste conversa- 
tion. 

I call men to judgment for requiring of 
womanhood that virtue and beauty of character 
which they themselves do not attain, or hold 
as fundamental in society. 

I call women to judgment for encouraging 
in man that low moral life, which, when it 
obtains in any of their own sex, is just cause for 
ostracism. 

What woman of you, or man, on seeing a 
woman about the streets with a cigar in her 
mouth, or a pipe in her hand, or chewing to- 
bacco, or lounging about the street comers, or 
frequenting saloons, would hold such a woman 
in esteem? And yet the ordinary girl will 
permit a young man to walk the streets, or to 
sit on the porch, and not infrequently enjoy 
the parlor with her, with a cigar or cigaret in 
his mouth, and she offers not the least objection. 
She may even go so far as to express her liking 
for the fragrance of tobacco smoke. 

Some women do smoke and chew and rub 
snuff, and are as worthy of respect as the men 
doing the same things. To me the sight is 
anything but beautiful of any one either chew- 
ing or smoking. Not only is it not a welcomed 
sight, but it is positively vulgar. 

It is an offense against good breeding, if not 
against womanhood, for a grocer, a dry-goods 
man, or merchant of any character, to smoke 
or to allow smoking in his store; but to this 

59 



common evil, who of the women offer objection ? 
Yet were such offense committed by lady clerks, 
milliners, chambermaids, stenographers, or girls 
doing service in public places, they would be 
derided, sneered at, banished, and men and 
women would say, "Her punishment was just." 

Fie on such justice! There is no sex in 
virtue. Society is wrong, and our customs are 
unequal. Sin is sin, committed by man or 
woman. 

Here is a young man of a good family. He 
has some property, but he is a dissipated char- 
acter. He wastes his virtue and destroys his 
manhood. He breaks his mother^s heart and 
feeds his salacious appetite. Exhausted with 
drink and bestial living, he comes home and 
dies. The entire community knew how he lived 
and died, and yet they turn out en masse to do 
him homage and weep over his lecherous re- 
mains. 

Here is a young woman of good family. She 
was as pure as an angel, but was tempted and 
fell. Hear her : 

"Once I was pure as the snow, but I fell, 
Fell like the snowflakes from heaven to hell, 
Pell to be scoffed, to be spit on and beat — 
Fell to be trampled as filth in the street — 
Pleading — cursing — dreading to die. 
Selling my soul to whoever would buy; 
Dealing in shame for a morsel of bread, 
Hating the living and fearing the dead. 
Merciful God, have I fallen so low? 
And yet I was once like the beautiful snow." 

She died! Is it any wonder? She was 
buried. Who were there ? The undertaker and 

60 



the grave-digger. The box was of rough pine. 
The hearse was a dray. The burial-place was 
the potter's field. There was none to pray. Not 
a tear was shed. Silently she sleeps beneath 
the scorn and judgment of a cruel world ! 

Some one has said : "Woman always falls by 
what is highest in her — love — ^he wants me.' 
Man, on the contrary, sins by what is lowest in 
him — lust." Is it true ? And is the reward of 
blasted love the potter's field, while lust lies 
down in honor beneath a granite shaft ? 

I see a mother in tears. She has six beautiful 
girls. They are the pride of her life and the 
cheer of her home. Then why in tears ? This 
is the reason : Just across the street is another 
home with two accomplished daughters. Over 
the face of the eldest a look of shame has crept, 
and the reason is known. The burden of the 
mother's heart is, "If my neighbor cannot keep 
her two daughters inviolate, what can I do to 
keep my six girls as pure as snow and as chaste 
as ice?" 

A young man can shield himself with a hun- 
dred paltry dollars, but if a young woman sins 
her shelter is in hades ! 

Chasteness is the chief protection to domestic 
felicity. "First God's love and next the love of 
wedded souls." But that wedded life is a false 
union where impurity links itself with purity. 
^'No virgin girl can give her best love to any 
man who has lost his honor." 

Between the virtuous and the misleading 

61 



there is a chasm wide as between the healthy 
tissue and the slough ! 

When Sam Jones wanted a wife, he said he 
went to the prayer-meeting. That was very 
good for Sam, but how about the wife ? 

The divinity of companionship receives uni- 
versal recognition. It demands both virtue and 
honor, a pure man and a chaste woman. 

When schools abound with filthy boys, and 
cities are full of low men, what chance is there 
for a virtuous girl to wed a pure man and have 
a happy home ? Boys cannot run wild enjo3dng 
street liberties, listening to foul mouths, feed- 
ing on filthy literature, beholding the unchaste 
and the infamous, without breathing the spirit 
of it all. "Evil communications corrupt good 
manners," and evil associates corrupt good 
morals. 

Who are the crucified of to-day? They are 
the Christ-women born in virtue, reared in 
purity, accomplished in ladyship, wedded to the 
impure, low, mean, lustful manhood of the age. 
To be loved? How can they be loved? How 
can they love that which is not only unlovable, 
but despicable? And yet these poor sisters of 
Jesus Christ will suffer on, enduring the most 
unendurable unto the end. 

Who are the crucified of to-day ? Go among 
the scarlet women and see. Heaven forbid! 
Have they deliberately chosen this life? First 
they were betrayed, and after that there was 
nothing left but infamy, shame, and disgrace. 
Society says, "Depart from me, ye cursed." The 

62 



church folds about itself the robes of self -right- 
eousness, fearing the touch of one of them. No 
one takes note that 

"Down in the human heart. 
Crushed by the tempter. 
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore." 

Society, the church, all are cold-hearted 

toward an erring sister. Ah, worse; they have 

but one voice, and that is : "Out of sight with 

her ! Out of sight ! Away with her ! Down !'' 

Our soulless voices must be obeyed ! We do not 

believe that, 

"Touched hy a loving heart, 
Wakened by kindness, 
Cords that were broken will vibrate once 
more." 

If we do believe that, we disprove it by our 
actions, declaring we have no time to mend 
broken pitchers or to string old fiddles ; but our 
outcry is, 
"On with the dance! Let joy be unconfin'd.'* 

I hear a retort: "Are you not teaching us,'' 
say a multitude, "to think on the pure? And 
yet you criticise the church and society for 
turning from the scarlet woman, from defamed 
nature. It would be well to be consistent." 

Very well, let us be consistent. To the pure- 
minded there arises a deep sense of pity for the 
"some mother's child" that has gone astray. 
Now purity wants all things to become pure. 
At once it goes about delivering the hopeless 
and the erring. You were once in sin. Who 
saved you? You were once being entrapped. 
Perhaps you did not know it; it may be you 

63 



have never knovm it, and yet some kind angel 
hand rescued you from the very verge of shame 
and infamy to which you had unconsciously 
approached. Thus a father's daughter was 
being led, unknowing, into the very jaws of 
death and into the very mouth of hell, when a 
noble, pure-minded man, seeing the girl being 
led straight toward a door of shame, hastened 
to the rescue. Is it not possible for the "pure 
in heart'' to rid every community of the bagnio, 
and deliver the poor sisters of Jesus Christ 
from shame ? Ay, let us be consistent. Let us 
be like our Captain — "tempted in all points like 
as we are, yet without sin," going forth and 
saving them "to the uttermost that come unto 
God by him," "proving ourselves ... by pure- 
ness." 

Give God the best. Hear me; give God the 
best. He is asking for your best service. Be as 
near like Christ as you know how. Stand for 
the church and all that is good and pure. Stand 
for the home and all that is gentle and chaste. 
Stand for God and all that is best and holy. 
Stand for the despised and all who are clothed 
in the garments of shame, that you may min- 
ister deliverance "in His name." If you have 
to stand alone, stand in the fear of God and in 
the power of his might. "In all things approve 
yourselves to be clear." "Whatsoever things are 
pure, . . . think on these things." 



64 



ARE LOVELY 

Kature abounds in captivating beauties. 
Wherever you go you are met with a smile. 
There are no tears; not as much as a sigh. 
From whatever angle you look, the face of 
nature is fair. Owen Meredith says, "How 
light is thy heart/' but Wordsworth tells us the 
truth when he says, "Nature never did betray 
the heart that loved her.'' Light and gay she 
may seem, but with Tennyson "nothing in^ 
nature is unbeautiful." Go to the seaside, or 
climb among the hills, whichever place, nature'^ 
heart beats strong; everywhere you are im- 
pressed with the touch of nature's genial glow. 
The seasons come and go clothed in white, 
appareled in green, adorned in crimson, crowned 
with gold, tinted with an infinite variety of 
colors budding and blooming. 

I grant that some things are more entrancing 
than are others — they seem so to me, but the 
orthodoxy of that "seem so" depends upon me. 
Perhaps in the mind of the Infinite it is all 
beautiful. In creation it was said, "And God 
saw everything that he had made, and, behold, 
it was very good." 

To me the beauty and goodness of things 
seem very dependent. Still, I cannot say upon 
what they depend, except upon me. The human 

5 65 



mind grades things, compares them, estimates 
them. It is all done in a very arbitrary man- 
ner, but still it is done, and we insist that we 
are right. If we are right, our chief study 
should be to enswathe ourselves in the heart of 
that which is most beautiful and most worthful. 
"Whatsoever things are lovely." 

The most beautiful and worthful thing in all 
the creations known to man is man. He is a 
part of nature, but he is the climax of nature. 
He is a creature of ^'dominion." More than 
anything else, he studies himself and marvels ! 

Ideality tells him to devote himself only to 
that which is lovely in his associates. 

We can see many unattractive elements in 
the people with whom we daily associate. In- 
deed we do see them, and criticise; we are not 
sparing in our censure. 

This is what we do, and I want here to say 
it is what we should not do. Ideality puts the 
best interpretation on what we see and know in 
others. Too much that is beautiful and en- 
trancing presents itself for man to give atten- 
tion to the rude, the ugly, the vulgar. 

We are all members of the social order. We 
are daily in the presence of some. How shall 
we look upon those whom we meet? Above all 
other things try to see that which is lovely in 
them. 

There are very crude elements in some of the 
people we have for associates. Is this true ? If 
it is, and we think upon the crude, vulgar ele- 
ments more than upon the resident virtues, we 

66 



shall be lowered to the plane of those same 
crude, vulgar people. Being ambitious to grow 
into the best types, one must avoid the worst 
types. 

A peculiar trait in human beings is to form 
habits. I do not mean to make reference to 
those habits of life that belong to us by nature, 
but to those which are acquired, wherein prevail- 
ing dispositions, feelings, actions, or physical 
temperaments are indulged, petted, trained, 
nourished, until they become abnormal parts of 
our personal conduct, ^ow the hazardous fea- 
ture of this is found to be that when we see in 
others habits attractive or otherwise, we im- 
mediately begin to draw a pattern and fashion 
ourselves accordingly. 

Habits are contagious. They are as con- 
tagious as is smallpox. It requires a strong will 
to keep one free from forming the habits which 
appear in others. But there are desirable 
habits, and in forming habits it is well to form 
desirable ones in ourselves. However, there 
must be a distinction made in the habits which 
appear. A thing is not right because we have 
habitually done it. We may do a great many 
unlovable things, but the things thcit are lovable, 
or, as the Greek would say, "the things that are 
very lovely," are the things which should com- 
mand our attention and should insinuate them- 
selves into our lives. 

The faculty of intercommunication is one 
upon which we should place a high estimate. 
To talk together, to hold conversations, to dis- 

67 



cuss important themes, to interchange ideas, to 
inform one another, to make known our needs, 
our wishes, our purposes, our ambitions — these 
are our privileges. Are they not worth cher- 
ishing ? 

There is much which passes for conversation 
that is consummate doggerel without a poetic 
tinge. 

A friend, in speaking of another, said: "I 
always love to hear Wyant talk. He is eloquent 
in common conversation." Some of us have not 
been thinking it was worth while giving atten- 
tion to the "words of our mouths," much less to 
the "meditations of our hearts." 

A commendable feature of the public-school 
work is in keeping a record of the "oral ex- 
pression" of the pupils. The language of the 
home should be crystal with purity. 

In conversation with a business man a story 
was introduced by saying, "It is a little smutty, 
but I would like for you to hear it." I replied, 
"Then I guess you had better not tell it," and 
out of deference to my feelings upon the mat- 
ter, he refrained. We have not time to indulge 
in base words, none of us; in doing so we 
prove ourselves to be a back number. Three 
thousand years ago there lived a poet who wrote 
a meditation which every one would do well to 
graft into his life. Said he, "Let the words of 
my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be 
acceptable in thy sight, Lord, my strength, 
and my redeemer." 

68 



"Whatsoever things are very lovely" in 
thought, cause them to become a real part of 
you. I know a very miserable man, made so 
because he has cultivated miserable thinking. 
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." 

There are many "lovable" personalities. It 
is not enough that a man shall be handsome. 
Beauty of complexion and stature made 
Absalom to excel and raised Saul a head above 
any of his brethren. It is said of Cleopatra 
that in her person she "beggar'd all descrip- 
tion." I know a very lovable personality of 
whom a friend once remarked, "She is painfully 
homely." "Beauty is as beauty does." Like 
Socrates, "I pray thee, God, that I may be 
beautiful within." 

Among our friends it is quite impossible for 
us to correctly interpret the motives prompting 
them in many of their undertakings. We are 
apt to do a grave injustice to the person to 
whom we would be the farthest from doing any 
injury. The reasons that prompted to action on 
his part may be hidden from view, and we are 
left to wonder, if not in amazement. Yet it is 
proper that we should make a study of the 
motives which are reckoned as resident back of 
certain choices. 

After ten years of absence, in which one of 
the men changed his church relations, two 
friends met, and the other one, in commenting 
upon the change, said, "I knew you did right, 
or it would not have been so." He saw virtue 
in his friend's motive in choosing between two 



denominations. He saw "that which was 
lovely" in his friend's motive. 

I remember being taught this, "Put the best 
possible construction upon what others may say 
or do." For motive is the cause of action, and 
you want to see the good, the true, the beautiful 
in the moving power spurring a friend to 
action. 

The purpose is the object of action. In most 
procedure there is an end in view. Some object 
is pointed out and the energies are directed 
toward that object. Some need appears and all 
one's energies are directed to the accomplish- 
ment of that need. What is the end in view? 
Surrounded with neighbors and friends who are 
ever busy doing something, we shall find our- 
selves unconsciously studying their motives and 
their purposes. Let it be so ; and would any of 
us have it otherwise ? In determining the cause 
of action and the motive of axjtion in others, we 
find fuel to feed our own cause and object of 
action. Between the causes and objects of 
action we will find material out of which to 
make selections for our own personal uses. 

After all, character counts. It tells just 
what one is. And out of the manifold charac- 
ters surrounding us we are called upon to choose 
the best. Select from our friends their virtues 
and emulate them; shun their vices; avoid 
their evil habits; select their good points and 
study them. It may be we can incorporate their 
excellences into our own lives, and in doing so 
improve ourselves. 

70 



strong men and good men have their excel- 
lences rooted and grounded in strong and good 
elements of character. They gather nourish- 
ment from the best things appearing in the lives 
of others. 

Our privilege is as great as theirs. Let us 
study those about us. Note their good conduct ; 
select their beautiful habits; take lessons in 
their conversation; tax the brain with their 
wholesome thoughts; seek to be as beautiful 
within; fortify ourselves with their lofty 
motives; keep their worthy object in view; sift 
everything, holding on to the ^Vhatsoever 
things are very lovely.^' 

Hold on to your friends. You cannot get 
along without them. They may have vices — 
cling to their virtues; you need them. The 
fibers of your character must inevitably secure 
nourishment from the associates of your life. 
Look to it that your nature feeds on the good 
things appearing in the lives of those environing 
you. By so doing you will grow tall in the 
excellences of human life. 



71 



ARE OF GOOD REPORT 

All information deserves sifting. If it sifts 
perfectly, and nothing is lost, you are reassured 
with respect to the correctness of the matter. 
If it sifts imperfectly, much is gained, in that 
what is untrue and does not conform to fact is 
cast out, only the trustworthy and the true 
remaining. It matters not from what source 
definite information comes, you must pass judg- 
ment upon it, retaining only what is "of good 
report.^' 

You must distinguish between a thing's being 
true, simply true, and "of good report." Many 
things are true that are not of good report. A 
banker has defaulted; a government employee 
has proven untrue; a well-known man wastes 
his income ; another has been the subject of foul 
play. These and many other things may be 
very true to fact, but they are not of good report, 
and hence they are not the things you would 
select to feed upon in order to strengthen the 
moral fiber of the soul. 

A thing is of "good report" when it credits 
virtue, sustains manhood, upholds honor, is 
self-respecting, puts a premium upon righteous- 
ness, maintains integrity, fosters bravery, stim- 
ulates frugality, cultivates charity, and upbuilds 
morality. It is therefore the part of wisdom to 

72 



pass all reported information through a screen 
in order to determine what is worth while. He 
who neglects sifting will load up his bin with a 
quantity of chaff. 

Pick up an ordinary newspaper and examine 
it with care. What do you find? There is a 
bit of real news, but most of the contents of the 
paper is of no value. A bit of news is strung 
out into a story, and that which fills a column 
might easily be reduced to a stick. 

It is estimated that there are fifty thousand 
newspapers published in the world. What per 
cent, of these publications is news? Perhaps 
three per cent, goes for genuine news. It is 
impossible to tell, but a fair estimate will not 
increase this figure so much as some might 
think. 

Of tliis fifty thousand, 21,305 are produced 
in the United States of America and Canada. 
We American people must be kept very busy 
determining just what the news is. Certainly 
we are made busy sifting through the columns 
of more than twenty thousand journals in order 
that we may keep ourselves posted upon the 
current events of the times. 

The book publications of the world annually 
approximate 80,000. Fiction, drama, and pop- 
ular literature, like Ben Adem, lead all the 
rest. Law, theology, and medicine follow in 
order as named. It is not expected that the 
fund of information contained in these 80,000 
different books shall be reliable. Much of the 
fiction fails to be respectable rubbish. Many 

73 



of the law books are inconsistent in their state- 
ments. Books on theology are as different in 
their deductions as it is possible for books to 
be. Medical authorities are in no better agree- 
ment. Scientists abound in speculations, and 
books on philosophy are often far from the 
truth. This vast amount of new literature 
coming from the press each year will stand lots 
of screening and sifting. Indeed it is wonder- 
ful what little of real merit is secured from 
many a popular book ! 

The ancient preacher said, "Of making many 
books there is no end." When he made that 
statement the books produced were small and 
insignificant in the quantity of matter usually 
put into books as compared with the amount of 
matter contained in the issues of the press 
nowadays. Fifty thousand papers and eighty 
thousand books from the press each year ! And 
many of these papers in a single issue could 
print the whole of the New Testament and 
abundant space would be left for current news ! 
If the papers were counted as books, — and em- 
ploying Solomon's basis of judgment it would 
be safe to so count them, — then the world 
would have about 80,000 books plus a large 
multiple of fifty thousand. This is the gaunt- 
let required to be run every year, and many 
days in the year, if one would be able to keep 
apace with all the things "of good report' com- 
ing from the press. But in order to secure the 
things "of good report," this brings to us the 
suggestion that we are to busy ourselves, and 

74 



to keep ourselves busy, rummaging among the 
countless publications with an interrogation 
point. 

Foolish is the man who tries to keep up with 
the procession of publications, even among his 
own countrymen. A busy man in a busy world 
where everything goes on wheels and moves at 
the suggestion of electricity, can hope to read 
only a few papers and magazines and books. 
Many wiser men than we have advised us that 
a book is not worth the time it takes to read it 
because it just came from the press. Newness 
is no recommendation. The apostles of the 
best thought and life have taught us not to 
read a book until it has been from the press at 
least a year. This suggestion commends itself 
to the busy person. 

A wife and mother recently poured out her 
heart to her pastor concerning the drift of her 
husband's mind and thought, and was dis- 
paraging the outlook. This inquiry was made, 
'*What does your husband read?" and she 
made reply, "Oh, nothing but trash." Here is 
a part — a significant part — of the solution to 
the difficulty in that home. The mind deserves 
wholesome diet. Nothing is too good upon 
which to feed the mind. 

There are other means of securing informa- 
tion, chief among which is that of letter-writing. 
Letter-writing has been reduced to an art, and 
the transportation of mailing matter has been 
greatly simplified. Through the post-offices of 
the world it is estimated that 20,000,000,000 

75 



letters pass each year. The postal system has 
enjoyed a beneficent evolution throughout the 
inhabitable parts of the world. For the small 
sum of five cents per half ounce the post-offices 
of the world will pass along a private message 
from the humblest citizen to any part of the 
known world, giving to the message an escort 
having the protection of every government 
through which it may be required to pass in 
reaching its destination. The mails are other- 
wise safeguarded, and any one found guilty of 
transmitting indecent or obscene matter 
through the mails is subject to penalty. Still 
letters need to be sifted. Their contents are not 
always reliable. Here is an illustration: 

A real estate agent in a town of about 2,500 
people, and with a horse-car street-railway, 
desiring to boom his community, sent out much 
printed matter, and when he secured responses, 
was diligent in making reply by private letters. 
To one such person a letter was written telling 
that the population of the said town was 16,000, 
and stating that they had an electric street-rail- 
way. Imagine the disappointed look coming 
over the faces of the emigrants as they stepped 
from the train into a small town of 2,500 popu- 
lation, at whose depot stood a prehistoric horse- 
car, to which a couple of quadrupeds with 
shaggy manes, artistically carved ribs, knees 
sprung, and otherwise anciently adorned, were 
hitched, ready to move on toward the busy 
scenes of Main Street. 

76 



1 once had a correspondent, and he knew how 
to writ^ an interesting letter. It was in the 
days when we were both about to pass out of 
our teens. Something had gone wrong with 
my correspondent which angered him exceed- 
ingly. He told me of it, using language of an 
unbecoming nature. In making reply I did 
not hesitate to reprove him, letting him know 
such letters were not welcomed. Instead of 
receiving my reproof, — which may not have 
been given with wisdom, — ^he resented it with 
spirit, and in his reply vigorous language was 
used which is not allowed in decent society, 
and which violated the postal laws. I simply 
informed him that our correspondence was at 
an end. 

"Whatsoever things are of good report." 
There are the telephone, the telegraph, the wire- 
less, the heliograph, and other signal methods 
by which information is transmitted. Perhaps 
the most frequent violations of good breeding 
occur at the telephone. A girl in the exchange 
once said in my hearing, "You can always tell 
who among the habitual users of the system 
are gentlemen." And then a certain man was 
named, of whom, though engaged in an unman- 
ning business, yet over the telephone, the ex- 
change girl said, "He is a gentleman." The 
girls in the exchange may not always be 
courteous, but the man with the receiver at his 
ear cannot afford to be discourteous. Charac- 
ter speaks over the telephone, though you may 
be miles away. 

77 



This is not all. Most of us talk too much. 
There is a liking to report upon our neighbors. 
"Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer 
among thy people." "He that goeth about as a 
talebearer revealeth secrets," which "are as 
wounds" "that goeth down into the innermost 
parts." "Where there is no whisperer the strife 
ceaseth." "Thou shalt not raise a false report." 

A great deal we know is what some one has 
told us, but here we are called upon to exercise 
our sifting faculty again. It would save us a 
deal of time and trouble were we freed from 
this annoyance, but what we lose in time we 
gain in character, if we gain at all. Each one 
must be himself, if he would be anything of 
value; and being himself, he must weigh all 
"hearsay" with care and caution. 

A half-drunken man remarked to the police- 
man as he approached, "D'u see-e-e; th'r' 'r' 
two moons up th'r'." And the policeman re- 
plied, "Don't believe half you see, and nothing 
you hear." 

To sane, sober people the caution carries 
some weight. Much you see is not so — certainly 
not good to look upon, and much more that you 
hear is incredible. "Take heed therefore how 
ye hear." But, "let every man be swift to hear, 
slow to speak, slow to wrath." "Whatsoever 
things are of good report, . . . think on these 
things." 

"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? 
who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that 
walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, 

78 



and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that 
backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil 
to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach 
against his neighbor." 



79 



IF THERE BE ANY VIRTUE 

Let us give this another reading: If there 
be any strength of body or mind ; if there be any 
force in a given personality; if there be any 
virtue, think on these things. 

You are asked, therefore, to give attention 
to the physical basis of life. I am not at this 
time asking you to inquire into the life itself, 
but to the physical basis of the life which now 
obtains. And where does it come from? Let 
me make answer. It "comes from the natural 
man and the kingdoms below him.'' 

If the physical basis of the life which now 
obtains comes from the natural man and the 
kingdoms below him, the attention — studious 
attention — should be given to the laws govern- 
ing the continuity of that physical basis of life. 
Let me say it in still another way. If what has 
gone before is true, then I would admonish you 
to thoroughly acquaint yourself with the law 
of heredity. 

But young Christians desire the simplifica- 
tion of this that is called heredity ; and I think 
it ought to be made exceedingly plain and sim- 
ple. This is vital to every young person and 
is worth understanding. If you will then give 
attention to the following statement, read it 

80 



and reread it, think it over again and again, 
light may come to you : 

The law of heredity iakes that which is trans- 
missible in the parents and hands it on to the 
child, which child, in parenthood, may trans- 
mit it to the next generation, and in like man- 
ner it may he passed on, becoming a part of 
succeeding generations. 

It is well to keep in mind that nature is con- 
sistent. As Leibnitz says, "Nature never makes 
leaps." That which has gone before is not cast 
aside as if it were no longer of value, but it is 
transmitted, becoming a part of that which is 
and that which is to be. 

Strength and weakness are alike transmitted. 
Like begets like. To breed out the weaknesses 
requires the effort of breeding stronger traits of 
character. If a weak personality weds a weak 
personality, the issue will show manifest weak- 
ness. If a weak personality weds a strong per- 
sonality, the issue may show manifest weakness 
or manifest strength, according as weakness or 
strength may dominate the period. If a strong 
personality weds a strong personality, their 
offspring are likely to be endowed with strength. 
This is a subject that should gain the attention 
of every young man and every young woman. 
It is vital. And let me go further, telling why 
it is a vital subject. 

You will be determining upon life compan- 
ionships by and by, and there are some things 
which you should not allow to escape your most 
careful attention. I do not mean you are to 

6 81 



sit in judgment upon the persgn under con- 
sideration, making an effort to determine how 
many weak points that person sustains; but 
you are to discover the virtues of that person, 
to see whether they are enough to warrant your 
further consideration of companionship. The 
study takes another form also. 

There should be a study of the combined 
points of strength resident in you both. Your 
study proceeds after this manner : 

(1) You determine what the virtues of your 
own life are. 

(3) You discover the virtues of the life of 
the other person. 

(3) You make a comparative study of the 
virtues of both, seeking to know about how the 
two temperaments will blend in a possible off- 
spring. These are legitimate points for the 
consideration of every candid student of marital 
relations. 

It is perfectly natural that this subject 
should arise, commanding the attention of 
young men and women. When once it does 
arise, unless the persons have been carefully 
warned, they will become so intensely interested 
that advice at such a time might not be listened 
to. The probabilities are it would be treated 
with light consideration. For this reason I 
dare to speak in this familiar manner. I do 
not mean that you are, or might be, unreason- 
able, but infatuation has a tendency to blind 
the senses and subvert good judgment, there- 
fore it is wise to have the counsel given when 

82 



it may not seem to be needed, that when you do 
discover yourself being drawn by some irresist- 
ible affinity of soul to soul, you will exert your 
will power and call your good sense to the 
throne that you may take advice with yourself. 

May it not be that courtship is misunderstood 
by most persons? I do not know what your 
judgment upon the matter is, nor could I 
imagine just how you would define courtship, 
were you called upon for such a definition. I 
am going to take the liberty to give you a defini- 
tion which I think sufiiciently clear and compre- 
hensive to be suggestive and helpful to any of 
you who may contemplate it with discrimina- 
tion. Will you hear it ? 

Courtship should he the judicious inquiry hy 
two persons of opposite sex into the natural 
affinity discovered to exist between them. 

Parents and guardians alike might be allowed 
to take a part in this inquiry. It is their nat- 
ural right. Indeed it would be the part of a 
wise person to take the whole subject, and per- 
sons concei-ned, to the parents and with them 
canvass the matter without haste. Should this 
not be done, certainly the persons themselves 
should with careful study make this inquiry, 
in order that the kindred elements in their 
psychic natures might be understood and their 
physical strength be known. "If there be any 
virtue.'^ 

This natural affinity discovered to exist is 
both biological and psychological. 

83 



When two persons of the opposite sex dis- 
cover that the physical bases of their lives are 
coordinate, then biological affinity may be said 
to obtain. 

When two persons of the opposite sex discover 
that the spiritual entities of their psychic lives 
are akin, alike, coordinate, and there obtains 
between them an attraction which, with the 
least encouragement, increases in its force, and 
may result in the two minds being indissolubly 
united, then psychological affinity may be said 
to obtain. 

The union of two persons is most nearly per- 
fect when that union results from that affinity 
which is both biological and psychological. 

This subject is one of the most vital in char- 
aster. It is one which should concern you. It 
is too sacred to be treated with jest. It is 
fundamental to the social well-being of the 
race. You should knov/ about it. You should 
study to know more about it than you already 
know. 

In the United States of America the marital 
relations are not held with universal sacred- 
ness. There are not a few who hold that mar- 
riage is simply a compact, a social partnership, 
an alliance for convenience. It is a relation 
with them in which God is left out, as if he 
had never consecrated marriage. 

The foundations of the home were securely 
laid. The principles underlying domestic hap- 
piness are fixed, and they are as enduring as is 
the human race. You should seek them out 

84 



I 



that you may know them, and, knowing them, 
never be guilty of their violation. 

If the institution of marriage were man- 
made, then man might enact laws which would 
modify or even annul the relation. But man 
did not institute the marriage relation. God 
made it sacred and holy. Before human laws 
were made, or ever man had thought upon 
legislation, God consecrated the home. As 
Sylvanus Stall, D.D., has put it: Marriage 
"antedates human legislation," and "is above 
all human legislation. It was ordained of God 
and has been made indissoluble by any court 
or for any cause whatsoever, save for the single 
cause of adultery." 

There is no thought of saying everything that 
might be said, or that it might be well to say, 
upon this subject. I would rather be suggestive 
only. These are things for you to think upon. 
If there be any virtue; if there be any force; 
if there be any strength of body or mind, give 
them your study. 

"Forsake the foolish and live, and go in the 
way of understanding." "He that walketh with 
wise men shall be wise." "The life is more 
than meat, and the body than raiment." "Com- 
mit thy ways unto the Lord ; trust also in him ; 
and he shall bring it to pass." "The steps of 
a good man are ordered of the Lord." "The 
path of the righteous is as the shining light, 
that shineth more and more unto the perfect 
day." 

85 



With equal force you may apply this part of 
the text to other phases of life, but for this 
present I am content to put the emphasis upon 
the law of heredity, and upon the consistency 
of nature in maintaining that law, and these 
should admonish all, especially the young, to 
study with care the affinity of soul with soul, 
that the best results may obtain in the future 
generations. Do not treat this subject with 
jest. It means more to you than of which you 
are conscious. It means more to the genera- 
tions to come than you have dared to imagine 
or dream. Here is a place to pause, and to 
think, and to ask advice, and to pray. If there 
be any virtue. 



86 



IF THERE BE ANY PRAISE 

Praise ! That 's the word — praise ! If there 
be any ground for commendation, give it. 
There is great soul-hunger for this simple com- 
modity. It does not cost much to give it; it is 
worth a great deal when honestly bestowed. 
"Praise is comely for the upright.^' 

Anybody can criticise! Anybody! It re- 
quires neither grace nor sense. A peanut for a 
head and a stone for a heart, and you have all 
that is necessary to develop an adept critic. It 
is not criticism folks stand in need of nearly 
so much as it is a word of cheer. 

At one time during the War of the Eebellion 
a chaplain was about to address his men. The 
soldiers were tired, and worn, and discouraged, 
and one of them made a quiet suggestion, say- 
ing, "Chaplain, give the boys a word of cheer.'^ 
That soldier saw the need, and gave the key. 

Ian Maclaren tells the story of a widowed 
mother taking leave of her only son. He could 
not speak, and her voice was failing fast. This 
she said: "I canna see ye noo, John, but I 
know yir there, an^ I 've just one other wish. 
If God calls ye to the ministry, ye 'ill no refuse, 
an' the first day ye preach in yir ain kirk, speak 
a gude word for Jesus Christ, an', John, I '11 

87 



hear ye that day, though ye '11 no see me, and 
I ai be satisfied." 

What that dying mother asked of her only 
son, the living Evangel asks of you — "Speak a 
good word." It matters not where it is spoken, 
or who hears it, it is the same as giving a cup 
of refreshing water. A kind deed, a loving 
word, a gentle look, a little comfort, done in 
the name of the Master, will bring a blessing. 
It produces a double blessing: the one receiv- 
ing it is cheered; the one giving it is blessed; 
both are comforted. This is speaking a good 
word for Jesus Christ. 

Praise given should be true to character. The 
flatterer is to be disregarded. "A flattering 
mouth worketh ruin." Quoting another, "Praise 
undeserved is scandal in disguise." 

I read once about a king making a speech to 
his subjects, and the people greatly flattered the 
king, saying, "It is the voice of a god, and not 
of man." The miserable, notorious king was 
pleased with this praise, — and scandalized, — 
for it was far from being true. "And immedi- 
ately the angel of the Lord smote him, because 
he gave not God the glory ; and he was eaten of 
worms, and gave up the ghost." 

Commendation should not be given when it 
is not true. It is not necessary that one should 
turn into a linguistic spendthrift, and, without 
regard to worthfulness, give praise when praise 
is not due. "If there be any praise," give it, 
and do not withhold. Kecognize merit. Com- 

88 



mend virtue. Sustain honor. See the good, 
and tell it abroad. "Praise is comely." 

Praise, or the lack of it, reveals the character 
of the one giving or withholding it. It is an 
index to character. The praiseworthy manner 
in which one speaks of his fellows tells of the 
kindly heart the one speaking sustains. The 
absence of it when it ought to be given also 
indexes character. There are so many things 
we do, and leave undone, which tell to others 
the kind of persons we are. "Be sure your sins 
will find you out." But a man's virtues speak 
with equal emphasis and with the same cer- 
tainty. The words of our mouths and the medi- 
tations of our hearts are fruits of the soul, and 
they show forth the kind of trees we are. 

This is an art worthy of cultivation. Just 
why it is not appreciated more remains a mys- 
tery. It is not expensive. It is always access- 
ible. Any one can find occasion to bestow 
praise. As Shakespeare, in "Macbeth," makes 
Duncan say of Malcolm, "In his commenda- 
tions I am fed; it is a banquet to me." It 
would be difficult to find a person who had no 
appreciation of such bestowments. It is like 
pumpkin pie on a Thanksgiving Day. And 
pumpkin pies are not hard to make ! All that 
is needed is the regulation pie-crust, a given 
amount of pumpkin sauce, spice, salt, sugar, 
eggs, and milk; these properly proportioned, 
and baked with care, can easily be learned, and 
you have pumpkin pie ! It takes a small amount 
of time; a bit of application. It is as easy to 

89 



learn the art of giving praise; and when one 
considers the amount of cheer and comfort 
granted thereby, it would seem criminal to 
withhold this blessing. Then, again, the culti- 
vation of the same puts a bit of polish upon the 
character. It gives evidence of refinement. 

Can you understand the reason praise is with- 
held many times when it ought to be given? 
Think it over and give your conclusion. And 
what do you think the reason is? I have tried 
to solve the question to the satisfaction of my 
own mind. I think I have discovered a reason. 
To me the reason has virtue in it. You may 
not agree with me, but my conclusion may offer 
a suggestion to you at any rate, and, thinking 
so, I offer it for what it may be worth to you : 

The reason we are not more willing to bestow 
praise is because base ingratitude is so deeply 
rooted in our natures. 

^^Our praises are our wages.'^ Then poor are 
the wages of many! If many a mother could 
but have a word of cheer and kind recognition 
from those who are near and dear to her, she 
would be able to bear her burdens and they 
would not seem half so heavy. Children are 
often thoughtless, but it is a crime to be 
thoughtless toward our mothers. They deserve 
our tenderest recognition. Schoolboys and girls 
think because they are busy with their lessons, 
having only a limited time to themselves, that 
they should be excused from helping their 
mothers, and many mothers do excuse them. 
It is a tribute to self-sacrificing motherhood, 

90 



but it is a self-sacrifice that may not be worth 
the price. School-books should not be allowed 
to take all the time of the child away from the 
performance of some home duties. Learning 
to work is as necessary as learning the kings 
of England, or the Latin subjunctive, or gain- 
ing a comprehensive knowledge of language and 
literature. Whatever else a child may be 
taught, let him be taught to be kind, helpful, 
thoughtful, praiseful toward his parents. 
'^Sharper than a serpent^s tooth it is to have a 
thankless child." 

Could you have a friend nurse you through 
a spell of sickness, and you not have the dis- 
position to speak personally to that friend show- 
ing the gratitude of your heart for what he 
had done for you in the time of your need ? 

Could you sit at the table of another for 
weeks, and even months, accepting a gratuity 
of board and lodging, and have the hardness of 
heart not to thank the one who prepared your 
meals and made your bed and put out your 
wash gratis ? 

Did you never observe how willing most folks 
are to have you lose sleep, spend money, expend 
energy, sacrifice time, even waste your life for 
their sake, and they have not so much as a 
"Thank you'' to offer? 

None are too old to learn the lesson of grati- 
tude; yes, and learn how to recite the lesson. 
The first best benefit of a recitation is, it fixes 
the subject in the mind. The teacher can easily 
tell when the pupil has his mind and heart on 

91 



his work. Even so any of us can tell just how 
much our kindnesses are taken to heart by the 
manner in which they are reciprocated. 

Now is the time to speak our praise. Think 
of the sweet now-and-now, instead of the sweet 
by-and-by, and say so. "Praise is comely." 
Thank your father for the new trousers, and 
your mother for the new hat; yes, thank them 
for everything they do for you. Grive praise to 
your children for their little attentions. Com- 
mend your pupils for their every good deed. 
Do not overlook being kind and thankful toward 
your servants. 

Do not wait until there is a funeral in the 
family to speak tenderly and kindly. Anoint 
the heads of the living. Francis Murphy has 
often been heard to exclaim to people that they 
should bring flowers to their minister while he 
is living; not wait until he is dead and then 
bring a whole lot of flowers and pile them about 
his coffin, saying, "Smell that I" 

Now is the time for us to be kind to one 
another. Never get too big, nor too old to kiss 
your father and to hug your mother, and 
speak — ^yes, speak your love and gratitude. 

I heard of a certain young man declaring his 
love to a certain young woman. Many times 
he told her how he loved her, and it was, no 
doubt, all true. And yet that happy girl had 
the audacity to ask her lover if he loved her. 
He replied: "I told you that I loved you. 
Can't you believe it?" "Yes," she said, "I 
believe it, but I like to hear you say it." 

92 



When any of you have done a kindness to 
another, who of you do not like to hear that 
person say, "Thank you" ? The heart hungers 
for praise. Indeed there seems to be a kind of 
perpetual famine going along with us, all be- 
cause we fail to express our gratitude. 

"The love of praise, howe'er concealed by art, 
Reigns more or less, and glows in ev'ry heart." 

The scholar is praised and he studies the 
harder. The laborer is praised and he works 
the better. The child is praised and he is more 
obedient. The mother is praised and she toils 
on the happier. The father is praised and his 
heart is made strong. Shakespeare said it truly, 
"Our praises are our wages." It will pay more 
bills than silver and gold, and, indeed, it will 
pay bills that silver and gold cannot satisfy. 
It is heaven-minted coin, and will pass current 
in any land. Do you know of anything more 
self -satisfying ? Xenophon once said, "The 
sweetest of all sounds is praise." "Let us offer 
the sacrifice of praise, . . . the fruit of our 
lips, giving thanks." For "praise is comely." 



93 



THINK AND DO 

In the foregoing there has been no attempt 
to present a discussion comprehending the en- 
tire compass of Christian morality. It may be 
indicated, but it is not discussed. It has been, 
however, the purpose to awaken thought upon 
vital subjects touching the every-day life of 
Christians, especially young Christians. 

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the 
sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a 
crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye 
shine as lights in the world; holding forth the 
word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of 
Christ that I have not run in vain, neither 
labored in vain.'' 

In relation to Christian morality the purpose 
of diligent thinking is to determine what action 
shall obtain. Thought that does not bear fruit 
in service can have no definite value placed 
upon it. Service that is not the result of pre- 
vious thinking may, by chance, be valuable, or 
be the unfortunate product of thoughtless 
energy. When the mind dictates service and 
directs in methods, harmonious results will be 
achieved. Back of all great events there were 
great thinkers. Behind all noble service there 
were noble minds. If you would act well, first 

94 



think well. First, ''tliiiik on these things"; 
second, "these things do.'' 

Paul suggests himself as an example to fol- 
low. Said he to the Philippians, "The things 
which ye both learned and received and heard 
and saw in me, these things do." His sugges- 
tion to them is to think upon the things learned, 
received, heard, and seen in him, that they may 
be able to do them. And now we should regard 
ourselves as being exceedingly fortunate in hav- 
ing a type like Paul to follow. 

What had the brethren of Philippi learned 
from Paul ? 

Paul came among them a stranger, but he 
came with a message. He found some devout 
persons "by a river side," and to them was told 
the story of the Cross. It moved upon some 
and they believed the message. Evil spirits 
were cast out and others believed. Delivered 
from prison at the hands of the Almighty God, 
Paul and Silas "spake unto them the word of 
the Lord." They learned how to suffer, how to 
comfort, how to instruct, how to do charity, 
how to pray for the children of faith, how to 
die for the Lord Jesus. 

But another question: What had they re- 
ceived from Paul ? 

The three visits made among them gave 
opportunity to present the gospel in manifold 
forms, and to know the certainty of it. They 
received by faith Jesus Christ and with confi- 
dence entered into the fellowship of his dis- 
ciples. Moreover, they obeyed the injunctions 

95 



of the gospel, not only in the presence of Paul 
and Silas, "but now much more in my absence." 
Because of this, Paul gives this admonition, 
"Work out your own salvation with fear and 
trembling: for it is God which worketh in you 
both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
They received Paul, the messenger of Jesus 
Christ, and listened to his word; they received 
Christ, "the Lamb slain from the foundation 
of the world" ; they received God, who "so loved 
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." 

Coming from Paul's lips and pen, what had 
they heard ? 

Down by the river side certain ones heard the 
gospel, and the Lord opened their hearts to 
receive it. They were taught in the ordinance 
of baptism; the necessity of daily prayer; how 
to sing and pray in prison; and many times 
they heard the same words that were offered to 
the jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." They 
heard as Paul and Silas "spake . . . the word 
of the Lord." The letter written from Eome 
indicates the breadth of their instruction and 
that unto them had been preached the whole 
gospel. 

What had they seen in Paul ? 

Our words fall short, be they spoken or writ- 
ten, unless they are reinforced with a life which 
incarnates the teaching attempted. They saw 
in Paul that he believed every word he uttered. 

96 



His faith was aflame, his hope rose buoyant, 
his love was transcendent. They never saw 
anything like it. They were acquainted with 
brave men, but here were men, Paul and Silas, 
with their feet in stocks, who were secured in 
the "inner prison,^' who, "at midnight . . . 
prayed, and sang praises unto God.'^ They 
observed the spirit of these men as they moved 
among them in peace, and they saw the same 
confiding spirit, the same trustful nature, the 
same loving heart, the same faithful endeavor, 
the same manly, self-sacrificing teachers of the 
crucified One. 

Paul had moved among them in all good 
conscience. He was able to give an account of 
himself, whether in their presence or away from 
them. This being true, he could write them, 
saying, "The things which ye both learned and 
received and heard and saw in me, these things 
do.'^ 

Most of us know better how to live than we 
do live. Yet there is no excuse for that. Cer- 
tainly not to us living in the light and wisdom 
of the ages made wise in the gospel of the Son 
of God. If we know how to live we shall be 
made happy in living as well as we know how. 
"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, 
deceiving your own selves.^^ Where had James 
learned that gospel? He had been taught of 
the Nazarene, who said, "If ye know these 
things, happy are ye if ye do them.^' In the 
doing we manifest the truth, we reveal the 
gospel. 

7 07 



There is hypocrisy in thinking upon things 
seriously that we ought to do, and then leaving 
the same things untouched. Consider your- 
selves rebuked by our Lord saying, "Why call 
ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which 
I say ?" George Macdonald says, "Obedience is 
the key to every door." "If ye love me, keep 
my commandments.'' "To him who wears the 
cross, the first great law is — ^to obey.'' "Blessed 
are they that hear the word of God and keep 
it." "Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, 
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; 
but he that doeth the will of my Father which 
is in heaven." "For not the hearers of the law 
are just before God, but the doers of the law 
shall be justified." 

How can two walk together except they be 
agreed ? Hand in hand "think and do." Often 
the question is being asked, "What can I do?" 
Think and see; try and do. In the morning- 
time project your thought and plan for the day. 
In the evening-time recall the works of your 
hands and be thankful. It caused lamentation 
to Apelles, the painter, to have a day pass with- 
out drawing some picture or line. Dr. Guthrie 
tells of one Thomas Wright, who, at the close 
of his day's work, took his Bible in hand and 
went to the prison that he might instruct the 
ignorant, reclaim the criminal, raise the fallen ; 
and it is certain that, alone and single-handed, 
he rescued as many as four hundred criminals, 
restoring them, honest and well-doing men, to 
the bosom of society. Why should not every 

98 



one raise the question, "Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do ?" 

There is no necessity of being idle. There 
is something every one can do. There is some- 
thing every one knows he can do. Some people 
ask for work and find it. Others aflPect to be 
hunting work, but never find any to do. There 
are others who always have work and plenty of 
it to do, and no one ever heard of their being 
out of employment. Willing hands are mag- 
nets attracting to them something else to do. 
No sooner are they finishing one piece of work 
than another piece appears needing to be done. 

Think and do! There is a deal of latent 
energy in our churches, and it is all going to 
waste for the want of direction. What power ! 
what moral energy! what force lies silent and 
as if dead among us as Christians because we 
are not thinking what to do, and we are not 
doing what we think ! 

Until we have reached the conclusion that 
we are willing to make sacrifices for Christ and 
the kingdom of heaven, we have made little 
progress in the Christ-life. If in this life we 
hope to "taste of the heavenly gift," we must do 
more than leave everything for some one else 
to do. There are burdens to be borne ; there is 
service to be rendered; there is work to be done; 
there are sacrifices to be made; there are re- 
sponsibilities to be assumed; there are obliga- 
tions to be met ; there is comfort to be bestowed ; 
there are souls to be enlightened ; there are per- 

99 



ishing ones to be rescued, and we are to help 
lift the burden of this old world, bringing "life 
and immortality to light." 

Do you hesitate to receive this counsel for its 
face value? Then I bring to you the advice 
of one whose words you would be very slow to 
refuse. I am sure you are willing to listen to 
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be 
an apostle, separated unto the gospel of Grod/^ 
as he brings to you a plea out of the experiences 
of his heart, saying, "I beseech you therefore, 
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present 
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
unto God, which is your reasonable service." 

I would have you note the difference between 
its hurting you to serve the Lord and serving 
the Lord till it hurts you. 

If it hurts you to serve the Lord, it means 
that you are lacking in consecration. "The 
minding of the flesh is enmity against God." 

Serving the Lord till it hurts "is your reason- 
able service." "If we be dead with him, we 
shall also live with him : if we suffer, we shall 
also reign with him." 

In order that one may make a good record 
in his Christian life, Henry Van Dyke tells us 
there are four things to learn : 

"To think without confusion clearly; 
To love his fellow-men sincerely; 
To act from honest motives purely; 
To trust in God and heaven securely." 

Think and do ! Let thought and service wed. 
Consecration is man's act. God can sanctify, 

100 



but it is the will of man that consecrates. 
"Who then is willing to consecrate his service 
this day unto the Lord ?" 

You are anxious to lead a worthy life. You 
recall the words of our Lord saying, "Be ye 
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is 
in heaven is perfect." '' And you say, "Is it 
possible?" Would our Lord have enjoined it, 
were it impossible? 

The perfect life ! without spot ! faultless ! 
holy and unblamable and unreprovable ! It 
seems too good to be true ! And yet if it is not 
true, the whole system of our religion is false. 

Think and do ! The chief end of man is to 
inquire into the will of God and do it. This 
is the life principle upon which you are to build. 

According to the program of Professor Henry 
Drummond, we have the following: 

The definition of an ideal life : "A man after 
my own heart, who will fulfill all my law." 

The object of life : "I come to do thy will, 
God." 

The food of life : "My meat is to do the will 
of him that sent me." 

The society of life : "He that doeth the will 
of my Father in heaven, the same is my brother 
and sister and mother." 

The education of life : "Teach me to do thy 
will, God." 

The pleasures of life: "I delight to do thy 
will, God." 

The eternity of life : "He that doeth the will 
of God, abideth forever." 

101 



AND THE GOD OF PEACE SHALL BE 
WITH YOU 

To THIS present moment yon have accorded 
a thoughtful hearing to phases of Christian 
morality, which, when observed, will meet most 
conditions of divine fellowship. My heart's 
experience tells me, "If you do these things, the 
God of peace shall be with you." 

I cannot conclude these thoughts, however, 
without a word with you concerning the ines- 
timable privilege of holding communion with 
God, as well as the diligent cultivation of 
practical holiness. 

The path in which we have been traveling is 
well worn. j\Iany have gone this way before 
us. They have believed in the Christ of God 
and embraced the principles of his instruction, 
in which they have been both comforted and 
strengthened. The evidences are manifold in 
which Christianity demonstrates that it is the 
friend of mankind. These evidences cover a 
period of almost two thousand years. 

The Father came very near to humanity 
when he consented to have his Son represent 
him in the parliament of man. So near did he 
come that he fashioned his Son like ordinary 
human beings, for he sent "his own Son in the 
likeness of sinful flesh.'' 

102 



I think it was great condescension for God 
to come so near to "sinful flesh" and associate 
with mankind. Certainly it gave to mankind 
a great privilege, and one man who highly- 
appreciated it bears the following testimony, 
"Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and 
with his Son Jesus Christ." 

Among the ancients it was believed that only 
a very select few had access to the gods. 

In the early history of the Hebrews it was 
the privilege of a few to walk and talk with 
God, yet the belief was that God was far away, 
and, being far away, the common people must 
have God interpreted to them. 

By and by the cry became importunate for 
God to draw nearer to humanity. That was 
a universal prayer. The prophet assured the 
people that God would respect their request. 
The people believed the prophets and increased 
their cry with the hope that God might haste 
and come among them. 

"In the fullness of time" he heard their im- 
portunity and clothed his Son in mortal flesh. 
In doing this the Father made it possible for 
him to come to the side of every toiler, and 
burden-bearer, and careworn mortal and slave 
of sin, that they might know that they were 
loved and somebody cared for them. 

Christ so completely fulfilled the expecta- 
tions of the people that the people themselves 
doubted him. 

And yet some believed and followed him, 
being taught. Those were days when God was 

103 



close to his people. He met the servant in the 
garden and instructed him ; he came to the toil- 
ing mother and she was comforted; in the 
bazaars he mingled with the busy multitudes, 
giving lessons of honesty; in the sick chamber 
he came with curing grace; to the man who 
had met with serious accident he gave healing 
power; all others forsook the leper and cast 
him out of the city, but the Son of God came 
to him and healed him, even touching him; 
where virtue was lacking he came with forgiv- 
ing grace; where burdens were heavy he bore 
them instead; where hearts were breaking he 
poured in the oil of joy; he touched humanity 
at every possible point, bringing a blessing. 
The world had never seen life-devotions upon 
this fashion. This was service! It was God- 
service! It was God! 

The far-away God was made nigh by Jesus 
Christ. A few learned the supreme lesson of 
fellowship with the Father through this man 
of Nazareth. Only a few realized how near 
God had come. The revelation grew upon them ; 
more and more it came to the multitude that 
this was God mingling among his people. 

Formerly they had inquired of God through 
the priest and the prophet, and their place of 
worship was in Jerusalem. ^^But the hour com- 
eth, and now is, when the true worshippers shall 
worship the Father in spirit and in truth." 

No longer is the Father in some far-off dis- 
tance; no longer is it necessary to come to the 
sacred mountain in Samaria or to Jerusalem 

104 



in order that sacrifices may be made, sins for- 
given, and the Father worshiped. "God is a 
spirit/' and he touches soul-life anywhere. 

Still it remains a mystery to most young 
people, and they cannot tell how we are to 
fellowship God and hold communion with him. 

To a father is bom a son, and he is blind. 
The child grows to manhood never looking 
upon the countenance of his father. Many 
times the father has pitied the child groping 
about. Many times the child has wished in 
vain that he might look into the face of his 
father. But the child learns to know the voice 
of the father and is able to distinguish it from 
the most perfect imitation. He learns to know 
his father by touch; every footstep speaks. 
They love each other; they talk together; they 
fellowship; they joy and sorrow together; they 
commune. This communion may have a phys- 
ical basis, but it does not depend upon that 
physical basis. The blind child grows to man- 
hood knowing and loving his father "in spirit 
and in truth.'' 

Fellowship and communion are not depend- 
ent upon eyes. Indeed they are not dependent 
upon any of the five senses. The blending of 
spirit with spirit cannot be expressed by the 
senses. True fellowship and communion are 
of the heart. It is soul speaking to soul. This 
is what Jesus made emphatic to the woman of 
Samaria when he said to her, "God is a spirit : 
and they that worship him must worship him 
in spirit and in truth." That is communion 

105 



and fellowship. It is the scientific basis of all 
communion and fellowship. 

You are a soul and I am a soul. Your soul 
is rooted in psychic life. My soul is rooted in 
psychic life. The terms of communion must^ 
therefore, be spiritual. 

The soul may call the senses into action. It 
may dictate the conduct of the physical. You 
are not, however, to regard this physical ex- 
pression as the source of fellowship. The phys^ 
ical may be all aglow with interest and regard,, 
but such could not be unless the one had com- 
municated with the other in the language of 
the soul. 

It is held as a high privilege to have heart 
talks with another. How much greater the 
privilege to talk right into the heart of the 
Infinite and have God talk right into the heart 
of the finite ? You talk into the bosom of the 
Father, and the Father talks right back into 
your heart. And it is done after the very same 
manner in which you have heart talks with any 
dear friend. 

Turning to the Holy Book you are furnished 
with examples of men whose fellowship with 
the Father was close. "Enoch walked with 
God." "Noah found grace in the eyes of the 
Lord. . . . Noah was a just man and perfect, 
in his generations, and Noah walked with God.'^ 
Of David the Lord said, "A man after my own 
heart." Abel "obtained witness that he wa^ 
righteous." Abraham ^^ooked for a city which 
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 

106 



God." "Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He 
found him in a desert land, and in the waste 
howling wilderness; he led him about, he in- 
structed him, he kept him as the apple of his 
eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth 
over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, 
taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so 
the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no 
strange god with him.'^ Of Levi we are taught 
by Malachi one of the "thus saith the Lord," 
that "the law of truth was in his mouth, and 
iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked 
with me in peace and equity, and did turn 
many away from iniquity." David says, 
"Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; 
that walketh in his ways." 

"What doth the Lord require of thee, but to 
do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk 
humbly with thy God?" 

The natural sequence to this fellowship and 
communion with God is practical holiness. The 
life itself is clean. The motives are clear. The 
purposes are direct and not misleading. The 
spirit is sweet. Nothing is too hard to do for 
your God-friend. You are not a drudge, even 
though you work ever so hard. You are not a 
servant, even though your labor seems ever so 
menial. You are more than an artist, for you 
put more than taste into your work; you do 
more than adorn. You are a lover, for you put 
conscience into your work. Every task is ac- 
cepted as a sacred trust. All service is per- 
formed with a view to pleasing God. Selfish- 

107 



ness is relegated to the lower regions, and there 
is no attempt to glorify anybody but God only. 
Labor becomes a divine sacrament in which the 
worker meets his Lord. You admit God to 
partnership, and service is transfigured. Be- 
come a coworker with the Eternal, and you 
always have the Mount of Blessing for your 
workshop. By it life is both simplified and 
glorified. Wherever you go, and whatever the 
reasons are bringing you there, your motto is, 
"Holiness unto the Lord." You take your 
religion into your business, you decorate, con- 
secrate, adorn, and sanctify your business with 
your religion. You go nowhere but that God is 
asked to go along, and if you think God will 
not go, you refrain from going. Indeed and in 
truth you are a laborer together with God. 
This is practical holiness. 

My dear young Christian, a clean heart will 
not last long unless it is seen at the fingers' 
end. Intimate friendship with the Eternal 
means a "clean heart" plus "clean hands." Or, 
as Paul says, "In all things willing to live hon- 
estly." Or, as Micah says, "To do justly, and 
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy 
God." Thereby, "Grow into a perfect man, 
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ." 

Never climb a ladder unless "underneath are 
the everlasting arms." Never go to war ex- 
cept "the eternal God is thy refuge." Never 
m.ake a journey without impersonating the 
psalmist, saying, "I will lift up mine eyes unto 

108 



the hills, from whence cometh my help." 
Never meet any one in conversation without 
introducing Christ, saying, "This is my heloved, 
and this is my friend." Never allow yourself 
to become lost, or befogged, or in doubt, without 
crying, "Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" 
Never load yourself up with a multitude of 
burdens, but "humble yourself under the mighty 
hand of God, that he may exalt you in due 
time: casting all your care upon him; for he 
careth for you." "Keep step with the Master." 
"And the God of peace shall be with you." 

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from 
falling, and to present you faultless before the 
presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the 
only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, 
dominion and power, both now and forever. 
Amen." 



109 



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